SOPHIE Weguelin and Portland’s Eilidh McIntyre stole the show on day three of the ISAF World Cup Hyeres, taking a clean sweep of race wins in the 470 women’s event as competition stepped up a gear.

This first day of the finals series saw mixed fortunes for the British Sailing Team’s medal contenders in France, but the European bronze medallists took it all in their stride to take the gun in both of their two races, and move into overall second place.

The duo are in competition for the first time since their gold medal-winning outing at the Miami World Cup in January, with McIntyre having been sidelined from the Palma World Cup earlier this month after breaking a finger in training.

The Paralympic Sonar trio of John Robertson, Hannah Stodel and Steve Thomas have nudged ahead of their main French rivals, with a four and two on the board from their two races yesterday.

Meanwhile, overnight leaders Charlotte Dobson, from Weymouth and Sophie Ainsworth are remaining positive after a less than ideal start to their first day of final series racing in the 49erFX class.

The duo picked up a false start penalty in the first race of three, which Dobson admits affected their subsequent two races.

They pulled back to post a ninth and a fifth in the second and third races to see them in overall second place, just two points behind the Braziian pairing of Martine Soffiatti Grael and Kahena Kunze.

Portland’s Megan Pascoe is edging closer to the podium in the Paralympic 2.4mR fleet, for whom there are two more racing days left.

Pascoe was quick out of the blocks on Wednesday, picking up a race win and a second to consolidate her third place and extend the gap to fourth place – occupied by team-mate Helena Lucas – to 10 points.

Weymouth’s world champion windsurfer Nick Dempsey gained ground on the series leaders in the RS:X event, and ended the day in fourth just two points from the bronze medal position.

Portland-based Luke Patience and Elliot Willis had a good start to their finals series after a tough qualification round – they’re eighth overall with a fourth and a seventh yesterday in the 470 men’s event.