Britain's 49ers in battle for silver

Britain's Ian Barker and Simon Hiscocks have guaranteed themselves a medal in the 49er class. Whether it is silver or bronze will be determined by today's final race. They were not one of Britain's most fancied crews before the games.

It was generally a weekend of mixed results for Britain's sailors. Nick Rogers and Joe Glanfield held their fifth position in the 470s while the two Mistral sailboarders, Nick Dempsey and Christine Johnston, finished 16th and 18th respectively in their events.

Andy Beadsworth, Barry Parkin and Richard Sydenham are already eliminated from the Soling match racing but they may draw some consolation from the fact that the three going forward to join the top three from the fleet racing are the 1992 gold medallist Jesper Bank of Denmark, the 1996 gold medallist Jochen Schumann of Germany and the 1996 silver medallist Georgy Shayduko of Russia.

Iain Percy began his attack on the single-handed Finn class in the best way and leads the field after a second and a first. He was beaten by the Olympic champion, Poland's Mateusz Kusznierewicz, who won the world championship in Weymouth earlier this year, but displayed a clean stern to the opposition in the second. The Pole recovered from 10th to fourth in the leg but is two points in arrears.

Consistency reaped dividends for Ben Ainslie in the Lasers on a day when the breeze on his course was anything but steady. He scored two fourths while his main rival, Robert Scheidt of Brazil, who pipped him in Atlanta, had a 12th and a win, leaving Ainslie four points ahead.

Ainslie said: "I feel more confident now than I did at this stage at the last Olympics." The scrap for gold seems certain to be between these two.

Good meteorological information helped Ian Walker and Mark Covell to a victory in the Star class's opening race. "Our weather information said go left on the first leg," said Walker. "We did and it paid handsomely." A ninth place in the second race put them four points behind Jose Maria van der Ploeg of Spain, with the world champion Mark Reynolds of the United States seven points back in 10th place.

Shirley Robertson continued her assault on the women's single-handed Europe class with a win and a 12th, which she can discard from her score. She now leads Kristine Roug of Denmark, the Olympic champion, by nine points after six races.

She has five races left and will be sailing two today. "I hope the breeze increases," Robertson said. "I don't like this light weather. I feel more confident in stronger wind."