Paris2024: McKiwis need to hold the line or better to Medal on Thursday

William McHardie/Isaac McKenzie - McKiwis - 49er - Marseille - Paris2024 Olympic Regatta - July 31, 2024 © World Sailing / Sander van der Borch

One Kiwi crew will battle for New Zealand's first sailing medal of Paris 2024, while another will have the chance to end their storied Olympic careers in style tomorrow.

Isaac McHardie and Will McKenzie will line up for the double-points medal race in the men's skiff (49er class) in third place overall, after first regaining their lead with an impressive bullet in the opening race of a dramatic Day 4 before surrendering it in the last.

The pair managed to win a dogfight with the USA in the first race, then held off Spain and Ireland in the second race to stretch their advantage. However, a score of 15 in the last outing following a tangle at the top mark saw them slip to third.

They are three points behind the Irish and eight adrift of Spanish leaders Diego Botin and Florian Trittel.

Their medal race is scheduled to start at 2:43 pm local time (12:43 am Friday NZ time).

McKenzie said racing has been extremely close all regatta.

"Everyone has had their day, and because it's such a tricky race course, no one's managed a good, clean regatta. It just shows the high level of everyone in the fleet that we can battle it out and end up on similar points."

The plan for tomorrow is simple.

"We've had a look at the points and any one of the top seven boats can still win gold," he said.

"Keeping our eye on six other boats will be a bit tricky, so we'll just do our best to win the race and see how the others finish behind us.

"The goal is always the top spot, so we’ll keep pushing, and fingers crossed it comes our way.”

Earlier, Jo Aleh and Molly Meech bagged two top-ten results to close out qualifying in the women's skiff (49erFX). They secured their spot in the finale with a seventh place overall, but are 27 points off the podium spot and out of the running for silverware.

They were unaware they had qualified for the top-10 cut-off and were preparing to say goodbye to their competitors, Meech revealed.

"We were coming in thinking it was our last sail in the FX, so when we got ashore and someone said we had made it, we were genuinely surprised.

"Today wasn't our best start. We struggled in the first race and then had two solid ones after that. We haven't looked at the points yet, but we're going to go out there and fight for everything one last time."

Meanwhile, two of the country's rising stars ensured they, too, will be well-placed for a tilt at the podium in the coming days.

Windsurfers Josh Armit and Veerle ten Have enjoyed their best performances of the Games, with both forcing their way into the top 10 with a string of single-digit scores.

Armit carried 11, 2, 6, and 4 to move into fifth place, with five qualifying races remaining before the knockout medal series.

He is only nine points behind competition leader Grae Morris (Australia).

"Today was a better day - we got some more consistent wind, which was nice for a change," Armit said.

"I had a little breakage and had to sail with it, but I made it through the day OK. Tomorrow will be another big day - I'm just trying to do the best I can every time I go out."

Ten Have was relieved to finally get a series of races away, but only after her marathon race was abandoned late on due to a dying breeze.

"I'm pretty happy to finally get some breeze and finish some races with solid results. It's been tricky - I've had amazing starts and amazing first legs. I've never led this many races in a regatta before just to get caught every single time right at the end of the race," she said of her results across the first three days.

"I'm just trying to take in as much as I can. I haven't had the results that I've wanted yet, but it's good to finally get some reward for the hard work."

Men's skiff (20 boats) 1. Diego Botin/Florian Trittel (ESP) (16) 6 4 5 11 2 3 2 2 15 12 6 - 68 pts 2. Robert Dickson/Sean Waddilove (IRL) 9 4 1 4 2 (21DSQ) 4 13 9 11 14 2 - 73 pts 3. Isaac McHardie/Will McKenzie (NZ) 1 3 8 8 1 1 11 (18) 17 1 10 15 - 76 pts

Women's skiff (20 boats) 1. Sarah Steyaert/Charline Picon (FRA) 2 2 2 8 2 2 12 11 10 (18) 6 10 - 67 pts 2. Odile van Aanholt/Annette Duetz (NED) 5 1 1 10 8 5 (19) 3 2 15 4 14 - 68 pts 3. Vilma Bobeck/Rebecca Netzler (SWE) 14 6 15 4 15 10 2 1 5 1 1 (17) - 74 pts 7. Jo Aleh/Molly Meech (NZ) 15 17 (20) 9 17 8 3 2 1 14 8 7 - 101 pts

Men's windsurfing (24 boards) 1. Grae Morris (AUS) (13) (25DNS) 10 9 1 7 2 1 9 2 - 41 pts 2. Pawel Tarnowski (POL) (12) 3 6 2 9 2 5 5 (10) 10 - 42 pts 3. Tom Reuveny (ISR) 8 (13) 5 3 3 4 (25BFD) 3 5 13 - 44 pts 5. Josh Armit (NZ) 4 (18) 1 14 8 (25UFD) 11 2 6 4 - 50 pts

Women's windsurfing (24 boards) 1. Emma Wilson (GBR) 2 1 2 (17) 1 1 1 1 (3) 1 - 11 pts 2. Sharon Kantor (ISR) (25DSQ) 6 10 1 1 3 4 2 (15) 1 2 - 30 pts 3. Marta Maggetti (ITA) 5 3 4 (20) (11) 4 3 8 4 4 4 - 39 pts 8. Veerle ten Have (NZ) (25DSQ) 15 16 8 (18) 5 12 11 3 5 3 - 78 pts