SKUDs buzzing for silver medal showdown at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Sailing

Alexandra Rickham and Niki Birrell know they have to beat their Canadian rivals by two places to win silver in the final SKUD18 showdown tomorrow, as they ended the penultimate day of Rio 2016 sat in bronze medal position (Friday 16 September).

With just one race of the event remaining, Rickham and Birrell, who currently sit one point behind John McRoberts and Jackie Gay, will have to ensure one boat finishes between them and the Canadians to better their London 2012 result.

But neither the Brits nor the married McRoberts and Gay will be able to get totally pre-occupied with each other as the Polish 2016 World Champions, Monika Gibes and Piotr Cichocki, are lurking just four points off the medals in fourth spot.

Defending champions, Daniel Fitzgibbon and Liesl Tesch (AUS), wrapped up the gold medal with two races to spare, leaving three boats scrapping it out for two medals.

Defiant Birrell has just one message.

"Bring it on!" he said immediately after coming off the water. "We're really pleased to still be in the fight tomorrow. We're not interested in what's happened so far just bring it all on tomorrow. We're going to fight like hell to get the best result we can.

"I still think we will get silver so let's go and prove it. Me and Alex have been under pressure over the last eight years plenty of times before. Normally it comes out ok and I'm confident we've got the right team around us to deliver our best tomorrow. It's all we can try to do and hopefully that will be enough."

In the day's opening encounter, in a building breeze of 8-12 knots, Rickham and Birrell fought their way up from sixth at the first windwark mark to eventually cross the line fourth, with McRoberts, who won bronze at Beijing 2008, and Gay, second.

But it was in race two that the Brits saved what could ultimately prove to be the most decisive point of their regatta, when having seen the Canadians edge ahead of them going into the final mark, Rickham and Birrell managed to hold the inside track before crossing the line in fifth and sixth respectively and just four seconds apart.

Birrell added: "I'm pleased we passed the Polish down the last run in the first race, and then in the next race fought like hell to get what looks like a disappointing fifth but we were eighth or ninth at one point, completely off the pace, so to get a fifth there was absolutely unbelievable.

"The Australians have been unbelievable this week, they deserve all the credit in the world. No one has got near them in any race and how they won the last race from the position they were in I've literally no idea. Fair play to them, they've won but let's fight for silver tomorrow. We're up for the fight."

The warning signal for tomorrow's final SKUD18 race will be 5pm (BST). No race can be started after 6.30pm.

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.