Mills and Clark forced to play golden waiting game

Hannah Mills & Saskia Clark (GBR) at the Rio 2016 Olympic Sailing Competition © Richard Langdon / British Sailing Team

Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark will have to wait 24 hours to confirm their status as Rio 2016 470 Women's gold medallists after no racing was possible on Guanabara Bay today.

A lack of breeze and an unfavourable wind direction put paid to any chance of getting a fair Medal Race on the Pão de Açucar (Sugarloaf) and the race committee made the decision to abandon racing for the day for the Women at 8.15pm BST – with the cut off time to start racing at 8.30pm.

They will now return to try again from 5pm tomorrow. The Men's 470 Medal Race, featuring Luke Patience and Chris Grube, had been scheduled to start an hour after the Women's race but had also been abandoned for the day at 7.45pm BST.

With a 20-point advantage over their nearest challengers, Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie, (NZL), the Mills and Clark just have to successfully complete the double points Medal Race without disqualification or retiring. If no racing is possible tomorrow, medals will be awarded on current standings, confirming the Brits as champions.

Patience said: "As a team in a challenging venue we're so kitted out and ready for long delays and comfortable in our athlete containers so it's a very easy day watching the Olympic Games on the TV, having a snooze and eating well. It's the nature of our sport. It was definitely the right decision to cancel the racing today.

"Ali Young said something cool to me in the container. I was a bit 'Ah here we go, wait another day for racing' and she said everyday of your life that you're waking up and racing at the Olympic Games is a great day. What a cool thing to say and she's so right as well. You might only do it once, and here we are with another chance to go out and represent Queen and country and do the sport that we love doing."

The 470s' Medal Race rollover means Britain could claim two medals on the final scheduled day of the Rio 2016 sailing regatta, with Dylan Fletcher and Alain Sign also still firmly in the hunt for a Games debut podium finish in the 49er skiff class.

To be in with the chance of a medal, Fletcher and Sign have to put four boats between themselves and the Australians, who currently occupy bronze medal position, and have six boats between them and the Germans in second to win silver.

Patience and Grube in the 470 Men and Charlotte Dobson and Sophie Ainsworth in the 49erFX will also both contest their Medal Races tomorrow. Neither of the pairs are able to win a medal but will want to end their Rio regatta on a high and improve on their current sixth and seventh place standings respectively.

Grube added: "We just want to sail the best we can. Ultimately fourth place is still up for grabs - the old leather medal - and we just want to do the best we can and end with the best result."

The order and times of each of tomorrow's Medal Races is to be confirmed.

Anyone can try sailing for free at Fletcher's local club, Rutland SC, as part of the RYA's Sail for Gold Roadshows from 10am Thursday. All comers are then invited to watch the 49er Medal Race and cheer the Brits on with friends, and members of the British Sailing Team from 5pm.

There is also a Sail for Gold Roadshow in Patience and Dobson's home nation of Scotland with all school children able try sailing for free at Yorkhill Quay on the River Clyde, Glasgow from 10am tomorrow.

To follow the team's fortunes at Rio 2016 visit www.rya.org.uk/Rio2016, follow @BritishSailing on Twitter and like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/britishsailingteam