Britain wins golds in men's 49er and men's Finn in Tokyo Olympic sailing regatta

Dylan Fletcher and Stuart Bithell (R) of Britain compete during the men's skiff 49er medal race of sailing at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Kanagawa, Japan, Aug. 3, 2021. (Xinhua/Huang Zongzhi)

Britain claimed two gold medals of men's sailing regatta while Brazil won the women's 49er FX gold at the Tokyo Olympic Games.

TOKYO, Aug. 3 (Xinhua) -- Britain won gold medals in the the men's 49er and men's Finn in the sailing regatta at the Tokyo Olympic Games here on Tuesday.

Brits Dylan Fletcher/Stuart Bithell turned fortunes against their New Zealand counterparts to bag the men's 49er gold after the medal race.

Fletcher and Bithell were trailing by four net points behind Peter Burling and Blair Tuke after 12 races, but topped the medal race to tie the score as the New Zealanders finished third.

With a superior result from the medal race, the British duo clinched the gold medal and Team New Zealand had to settle for silver.

The bronze medal went to Germany, who finished second in the medal race.

"It's all the emotion, what it means to us there. Sometimes the gold medal is won on a fine margin, so hopefully that was enjoyable for the fans. Pretty stressful, but amazing," said Fletcher.

"There's no doubt that taking down the reigning Olympic champion, silver medalist in London and double Americas Cup champion, it does mean more beating them," commented Fletcher on beating defending Olympic champions Burling and Tuke.

"The whole week has been so close on points. It was always going to be a close medal race and it was. I'm just so happy we were able to hold it together," said Bithell.

Giles Scott of Britain (bottom) celebrates with his national flag after the men's one person dinghy finn medal race of sailing at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Kanagawa, Japan, Aug. 3, 2021. (Xinhua/Huang Zongzhi)

Britain's defending champion Giles Scott won his second Olympic gold in men's Finn after the medal race. Scott won six of the 10 races and enjoyed a nine-point advantage over second-placed Zsombor Berecz of Hungary prior to Tuesday.

Berecz topped the medal race, but was unable to recover the gap as Scott finished fourth to claim the gold with 36 net points, three less than the Hungarian, who improved his 12th place finish in Rio to a silver this time. Joan Cardona Mendez of Spain took the bronze with 51 net points.

Scott talked about his tactics in the medal race with the competition being so tight. "I was able to just sneak around the outside, and when you've got about five boat-lengths of course it's not over until you've crossed the line. You've got to be super careful of picking up a yellow (flag)."

"The way I won gold in Rio was pretty special. I was in a fortunate position to be relaxed (with such a lead in points), and that was the polar opposite of the race today. I went out for a meal the night before, for example. But here I knew that it was going to be super, mega hard. I did it the hard way today, but the important thing is that I managed to do it," he compared his win with that in Rio.

Martine Grael (L) and Kahena Kunze of Brazil celebrate after winning the women's skiff 49er FX medal race of sailing at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Kanagawa, Japan, Aug. 3, 2021. (Xinhua/Huang Zongzhi)

Martine Grael and Kahena Kunze won the women's 49er FX gold for Brazil. The Brazilians finished third in the medal race and claimed the top prize with 76 net points. Germany took the silver with 83 points after a fifth finish on Tuesday, and the bronze went to the Netherlands five points further behind.

On whether she plans to compete at Paris 2024, Grael said: "I don't know about the future, the planning for this event has been crazy, so much time away from home, as we had three training bases for this one. It might be easier for the sailors in Paris. We are just observing all the movement happening already for France. I don't know, let's see."

Italian sailors Ruggero Tita and Caterina Banti won the mixed multihull-Nacra 17 Foiling gold.

Despite a sixth place finish in the medal race, the 2018 world champions' 12-point lead in the first 12 races was enough for them to take home their first Olympic gold with 35 net points.

John Gimson and Anna Burnet of Britain took the silver 10 points behind, and Paul Kohlhoff and Alica Stuhlemmer of Germany pocketed the bronze with 63 net points.

"I think I still don't realize how it feels to win a gold medal. What it means for me is the hard work we did in the past years. I'm really proud of our work just to arrive here," said Banti.