Paul Snow-Hansen and Jason Saunders needed everything to go their way to pick up a medal in the men's 470 and it didn't help that racing was abandoned because of a lack of wind for this morning's (NZT) medal race at Weymouth.
The young sailors are fifth heading into the double points race and need to win hope both Argentina and Italy stumble badly for them to medal and would have liked to have raced in today's conditions.
Snow-Hansen and Saunders are good in heavier weather but light and shifty conditions make things more unpredictable and open up opportunities.
In reality, they didn't need to leave themselves so much to do. They were disqualified from the first race after a protest from Argentina - the New Zealanders felt they were harshly penalised - after crossing the finishing line eighth.
That would have left them only seven instead of 15 points off third heading into the medal race but they also scuppered their chances with a 12th and 13th in the last two races.