PORTLAND’S Megan Pascoe picked up the first British medal and her second World Cup podium finish of the season at the Princess Sofia Trophy in Palma, claiming silver in the 2.4mR Paralympic sailing class.

The 26-year-old Pascoe added silver at this first European leg of the ISAF Sailing World Cup series to the gold she won at the Miami World Cup event in January, while 14 British Sailing Team crews will look to add to the GB medal tally in the finals for the 10 Olympic classes today.

After her disappointment at missing out on selection for her home Para-lympic Games last year, Pascoe admitted she’s had a pleasing start to this new cycle, and towards realising her 2016 ambitions in Rio.

She said: “Being the start of the road to Rio, and with UK Sport and the National Lottery officially launching the 2016 campaign this week it’s quite nice to be on the podium.” she said of her silver medal feat this week in Palma. “Last year was quite hard for me, but 2013 has started with a bang.”

Bjornar Erikstad was the man who stood between Pascoe and her second World Cup gold of the year, with the Norwegian sailor leading going into yesterday’s final day of racing for the Paralympic class.

The British sailor went on the attack at the start of the final race in a bid to overturn her rival’s lead, but had to settle for the second step of the podium.

“It didn’t quite pan out,” said Pascoe. “But it’s always worth trying these things, and trying them when I already had the silver in the bag (so nothing to lose) is always nice.”

“Hyeres is going to be slightly tough-er,” the sailor said of her next World Cup challenge later this month.

“We’ve got a few of the Paralympians coming back – we’ve only seen Bjornar so far, so it’ll be interesting to catch up with those guys again. I haven’t raced with them since Sail for Gold.

“But I’m on a roll, so we’ll have to wait and see on that one.”

Weymouth’s Bryony Shaw and Portland duo Alison Young and Giles Scott hold on to the yellow leader’s jerseys in their respective women’s RS:X, Laser Radial and Finn classes going into the final day of the regatta.

But the experimental scoring format being trialled at this event will see two double-points scoring medal races, instead of the usual one race, for the majority of the Olympic classes, meaning the medals are still up for grabs.

Young returned to the top of the Laser Radial fleet with scores of nine and four.

Scott takes a negligible three-point lead over Dutchman Pieter Jan Postma going into the Finn medal races, while Portland’s Luke Patience and Joe Glanfield will aim to hold on to their top-three spot in the 470 men’s event in today’s two medal races.

Weymouth’s Charlotte Dobson and Sophie Ainsworth were the only British pairing to reach the final day of racing for the 49erFX in what is the first regatta of the new class for the four-boat GBR squad, while Poole’s Lucy Macgregor and Tom Phipps and Pippa Wilson and John Gimson made medal race day at their first attempt in the new Nacra 17 multihull event.