Ruggero Tita and Caterina Banti guaranteed themselves at least a silver medal heading into the Medal Race of the Mixed Multihull. The Italian pair started on the wrong foot Tuesday, getting disqualified from race ten due to an early start.

However, they recovered and finished the day with a strong second which puts them 14 points clear at the top of the Nacra 17 rankings.

Argentina’s Mateo Majdalani and Eugenia Bosco cemented their status as the primary challengers finishing first in race ten and second in race 11, meaning they are the only crew that can now beat the Italians to gold.

Great Britain’s John Gimson and Anna Burnet moved up to third with a brilliant performance on the water that culminated in a race win. They can take nothing for granted, as they sit level on points with New Zealand’s Micah Wilkinson and Erica Dawson.

“There’s not going to be a match race, we are going to try and do our race, control the situation based on the points we have," said Tita. "Second, third and fourth are going to have a big battle and we’re going to try and stay out of that and do our race and control the advantage that we have". 

“I think if you told us that we’d go into the Medal Race in second place we’d take it, so we are really, really happy," said Argentina’s Mateo Majdalani. "We are a bit sad with our last race that didn’t go our way. We know it’s tight in third and we need to debrief with the team to find the game plan."

“We’ll sit down and take a look at everything tonight and make a plan from there,” said Burnet. “We finally had the right strategy today – the right start, good speed. We actually went the right way which was a nice change for us. We’re confident in our speed in this wind and you can’t really do much more than focus on the details and executing your own plan, so we’ll try and do that", added Gimson.

In their case, Lara Vadlau and Lukas Maehr ended the Opening Series with a surge to the top of the standings in the Mixed Dinghy. The Austrian duo picked up a fifth and second on the water to head into the Medal Race with a seven-point advantage.

Spain’s Jordi Xammar and Nora Brugman remained in second after placing third in race seven. Japan’s Keiju Okada and Miho Yoshioka opened the day with ninth in race seven but recovered in race eight to cross the line third, putting them four points off the Spanish crew. No crew has secured a medal heading into the deciding race tomorrow.

Vadlau said: “We have to sail smart tomorrow. We have almost no advantage. We are here to win a medal, this was our goal from the beginning and now we are in a really good position. It all depends on tomorrow", said Vadlau, and also Maehr thought that “It’s a big relief, it’s nice to start with a little bit of a point advantage. We will talk with our coach about the plan and we’ll enjoy going into the Medal Race in first position.”

It was “a tricky day" for Xammar, however, who said the race could have been worse but also could have been a lot better. "We’re only focusing on the medal race. Tomorrow we’re going to sail the race of our lives" he said, while Yoshioka set his eyes on silver saying “The gap between second and fourth is very close. The gold is far away, but we can aim for a silver medal.”

Maggetti and Reuveny won windsurfing gold

In the first-ever knockout race in sailing at an Olympic Games the 3 August, Italy's Marta Maggetti came from behind in the medal race to win gold at Paris 2024 ahead of Israel's reigning world champion Sharon Kantor. A distraught Emma Wilson from Team GB won bronze after initially leading.

Wilson had progressed straight through to the iQFOiL final having topped the opening series. The second and third-placed athletes, Kantor and Maggetti, meanwhile, headed into the semi-finals. They would then compete against the two who would progress from the quarter-finals, which were those athletes placed 4-10 in the opening series.

The quarter-finals kicked off the day in dramatic fashion with the two athletes languishing at the back of the pack in the early stages, Yan Zheng of the People's Republic of China and Peru's Maria Bazo, took a gamble, splitting off to the left of the course where they caught the breeze, bypassing the leaders to take the two top spots.

They were unable to pull off the same trick in the semi-final, however, where Kantor and Maggetti progressed to the medal race, where they would face Wilson, knowing an Olympic medal was secured but not knowing which colour would be theirs. All three crossed the start line cleanly, with Team GB's Wilson taking the lead, Kantor in second, and Italy third.

Wilson erred when opting to extend one of the legs in order to get a better run at the mark, but that left her out of position. Maggetti, meanwhile, decided she had nothing to lose and split from the other two racers, and by the time she rejoined, was in the lead.

The race had been upended with Maggetti now leading, Kantor in second, and Wilson, in third. And this is how it stayed until the race ended with Maggetti claiming gold at her second Olympic Games, coming in the dreaded fourth place in Tokyo - and securing Italy's first sailing gold since Sydney 2000. Kantor secured silver, Israel's first sailing medal since Beijing 2008.

“I don’t know man, so, so happy. I had a really good week. I was so focused today. I really wanted this medal so I don’t know what to say," said a beaming Maggetti. “It’s a million dreams. My family, all the guys who watch me every year, the team. Thanks to my army, it’s amazing.”

But it was also a stunning day in Marseille as Tom Reuveny of Israel claimed gold in the men's windsurfing event. The last Israeli to win this title is Reuveny's coach at Paris 2024 Gal Fridman, who won at Athens 2004.

Reuveny's precise manoeuvres and a keen sense of strategy propelled him ahead in a highly competitive field that included Australia's Grae Morris, who took the silver medal, following closely behind Reuveny. Morris is also backed by greatness, as his father, Brett Morris, was a national windsurfing champion. His silver medal adds a new chapter to the Morris family's storied legacy in the sport.

Luuc Van Opzeeland of the Netherlands, a seasoned competitor with an impressive track record, claimed the bronze medal. Van Opzeeland has consistently excelled at the IQFoil world championships. He has maintained top-tier performances over the years, securing gold in 2023, silver in 2022, and bronze in 2021 and 2024.

Olympic sailing format

Although sailing has been a part of the Olympic programme since the inaugural edition, the races at Athens 1896 were cancelled due to adverse weather conditions. Since then, however, the sport has featured at every edition of the Summer Games, except St. Louis 1904.

Great Britain has been the most successful country in sailing with 64 medals, including 31 gold, 21 silver and 12 bronze medals. The United States of America is the only other country with more than 50 medals in the discipline.

The sailing competition at the Paris 2024 Olympics comprises 10 medal events with athletes sailing in one or two-person boats. Three new events were introduced for the upcoming edition - men's kite, women's kite and mixed dinghy.

The number of sailors competing across the 10 events has been reduced from 350 to 330, with an equal distribution between men and women. Each country is permitted only one boat per event, but sailors can compete in more than one event. At the Paris 2024 Olympics, sailing will have 10 events:

• Women's Windsurfing
• Men's Windsurfing
• Women's Skiff
• Men's Skiff
• Women's Dinghy
• Men's Dinghy
• Mixed Multihull
• Mixed Dinghy
• Men's Kite
• Women's Kite

Each event has its own set of gold, silver and bronze medals.