BRITAIN’S sailors concluded their first World Cup regatta of the 2020 cycle with a six-medal haul as the Sailing World Cup in Miami drew to a close on Biscayne Bay.

Gold for Dylan Fletcher and Stuart Bithell (49er) followed by a British one-two in the Nacra 17 event from Ben Saxton and Nicola Groves and the pair of Tom Phipps and Nikki Boniface on Saturday, were topped up with two further silver medals and a bronze from the second day of medal racing.

Lorenzo Chiavarini captured the first British medal of the final day in the Laser class, leapfrogging compatriot and two-time world champion Nick Thompson to the third step of the podium.

Britain’s Ben Cornish also started the Finn medal race in silver medal position, and had his work cut out defending it during a testing medal race in shifty wind conditions.

Cornish was 10th after the first lap and was looking out of the medal positions altogether before a second lap comeback saw him reel in and then overtake key rival Anders Pedersen of Norway, to reclaim his silver medal position.

Cornish finished seventh in the medal race to Pedersen’s eighth, with fellow British contender Henry Wetherell crossing sixth to end his event in sixth place overall.

In a nail-biting 470 Women’s medal race – the final race of the regatta – Sophie Weguelin and Eilidh McIntyre so nearly made it a third gold for the British Sailing Team, but were edged out by Dutch duo Afrodite Zegers-Annaloes van Veen just before the finish.

The two teams had been effectively level heading into the final race, but with the points close between four boats they could also have ended up out of the medal spots altogether.

The British pairing had a good start and first leg, but the Dutch crew just got in front at the windward mark.

Weguelin, who is based on Portland, and McIntyre clawed back on the second upwind leg and had gold within their sights on the final downwind but for a small error, which allowed the Dutch pair back through in the shifty conditions. The British duo had to settle for silver.

“It was a tough race,” said 22-year-old McIntyre.

“We just made a small error at the leeward mark and meant we got silver, which is still really good, and we’ve learnt loads this week to take forward.”

“We let the one boat that we needed to control get a little bit of leverage over us into the first mark, which ultimately put us on the back foot,” Weguelin explained.

“We gained back from there with quite a nice downwind and a good upwind to get back in control again, but we missed a gybe at the leeward gate and ultimately ended up second.

“We should have gybed away and come back to get an overlap at the leeward gate. So it was a big learning opportunity for us and something to take forward for our future racing.”

Fellow British Sailing Team of crews Amy Seabright and Anna Carpenter, and Jess Lavery and Flora Stewart also qualified for the medal race. They finished eighth and ninth in the race, and sixth and ninth overall.

“Miami has provided a challenging first international World Cup regatta of 2017,” said RYA Olympic manager Stephen Park.

He added: “From a British perspective, it’s been great to see sailors fighting it out at the front of the fleet – particularly some of our up and coming sailors who’ve been doing especially well and have challenged for the podium through the course of this regatta.

“Hopefully that bodes well as we move into this new Tokyo 2020 cycle.”