ALISON Young made the most of her trip to the ISAF Sailing World Cup Melbourne, as the Portland-based Laser Radial ace claimed a gold medal and sealed a place at next October’s World Cup Final in Abu Dhabi.

Young was one of only two British sailors to head to Australia for the first event of the 2015 World Cup series, but it proved worthwhile for both her and Finn star Ed Wright, who also took gold in his class.

In winning, the duo secured maximum world ranking points towards qualification for future World Cup competitions when the revised format sees lower entry quotas across the classes.

Young took a comfortable 16-point victory in the 30-boat Laser Radial fleet at her third regatta in as many weeks.

A fourth place in yesterday’s medal race was more than enough to earn gold over Belarus sailor Tatiana Drozdovskaya.

“It was quite a tricky medal race we had there,” said Young.

“It was pretty light beforehand and then the breeze pumped in and there were pretty big gains on the right-hand side.

“It’s been some good, fun racing.”

Young will now join some of her British Sailing Team colleagues in Rio for one final regatta – the Copa Brasil de Vela (December 16-20) – to round off 2014.