OLYMPIC champion Lijia Xu stole the show on day two of the Sail for Gold Regatta at the Weymouth & Portland National Sailing Academy.

Returning back to the venue for the first time since becoming China’s first ever Olympic sailing gold medallist, Xu claimed an impressive four race wins in the Laser Radial fleet where teammate Dongshuang Zhang lies second and Alison Young (GBR) sits third.

ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year Xu, who is coached by Weymouth sailor Jon Emmett, said: “This venue is very special to me. I think it’s just like home away from home so every time I come back to Weymouth I just feel very close to the venue and the town itself. The weather this year is especially nice with the sun shining every day.”

In the Nacra 17 class, the new multihull class for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, British Sailing Team’s Ben Saxton and Hannah Diamond revelled in the conditions, outdoing yesterday’s leaders, Lucy Macgregor and Tom Phipps (GBR), with two firsts and a second, taking the overall lead on count back.

“We hadn’t realised we’d taken the lead, but that’s nice to know,” enthused Diamond. “The first race went right down to the finish line, so it was really nice to win that one.”

One of four Nacra 17 pairings in the British Sailing Team, Saxton and Diamond entered the second day of the regatta in fourth place, five points off the top spot and are now sitting top, level on nine points with 2012 Olympian Macgregor and two-time ISAF Youth Worlds champion Phipps.

The heavy weight Finn fleet is this week completely made up of home nation sailors with Mark Andrews currently occupying top spot ahead of GBR team-mate Andrew Mills in second.

Andrews, who won gold at the Dutch leg of the EUROSAF Champions Sailing Cup, took a third and first while Mills took two firsts but was OCS in the second race of the day.

“It was shifty and pretty light – it’s not my speciality the light winds, but I’m trying to work on that at the moment, so it’s good to be out there training in it, but it was pretty tough,” said Andrews.

Mills added: “There is a good group of us down here with the six Brits, including myself and Mark Andrews, who’ve been around for a little bit longer now and the four younger lads who are very enthusiastic and it’s good to have that energy out on the water.

“We’re two days in and Mark and I are very tight on points, so I’m sure it will continue to be that way, especially with a bit more breeze forecast tomorrow.”

The high performance skiff fleets both completed four races out in Weymouth Bay with John Pink and Simon Wheeler (GBR) extending their lead at the top of the 49er leaderboard by nine points with 4-1-1-11.

Japan’s Yukio Makino and Kenji Takahashi sit second, adding a race win to their scorecard in the final race of the day while Dylan Fletcher and Alain Sign (GBR) moved up into third with a 9-2-2-6.

Elliot Carney and Bryony Shaw remain at the forefront of the RS:X 9.5 and 8.5 fleets as the British sailors both picked up four race wins apiece. Nick Dempsey, RS:X World Champion, sits second with a 2-4-3-2 while Joe Bennett is third in the 9.5 rig.

Robert York sits second behind Shaw in the 8.5 rig while British Sailing Team Podium Squad sailor Izzy Hamilton currently sits third after seven races.

In the Paralympic Sonar event, 2012 Olympians John Robertson, Hannah Stodel and Stephen Thomas confirmed their calibre with three bullets while the battle in the 2.4mR class continues between British Sailing Team’s Helena Lucas and Megan Pascoe, with 2012 Paralympic champion Lucas leading by a single point.

Racing is scheduled to start at 11am today with rain and a 14-18 knots forecast in store.

For further information on the Sail for Gold Regatta please visit sailforgold.co.uk, like the event Facebook page or follow @sailforgold on Twitter.