Yachting: NZ crews fighting for medals

Paul Snow-Hansen and Daniel Willcox in action during the Men's 470 class. Photo / Getty Images

New Zealand crews will be fighting for medals at the final day of the 470 world championships in Argentina.

The men's crew of Paul Snow-Hansen and Daniel Willcox relinquished their overall lead today but go into the final day second, 13 points behind leaders Sime Fantela and Igor Marenic from Croatia. The Kiwis can finish no worse than fourth - their previous best was seventh in 2013 - but were only three points ahead of defending world champions Mat Belcher and William Ryan from Australia.

"Our goal before the regatta was to be in [with a] shot for a medal and we have put ourselves in a position to do so, so we are just excited and happy to be here and will enjoy getting amongst it tomorrow in the medal race," Willcox said.

Olympic champions Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie continued their climb to be third going into the double-points medal race. They were first and eighth in today's two races, their best return of the regatta, but the pair admit they have struggled for consistency.

The brown, muddy waters of San Isidro have also been challenging, as has the unusual prevalence of weed on the course. Today's racing also brought thunderstorms, rain and strong winds.

"It's been a pretty hard week," Aleh said. "We have struggled a bit with a few different issues, so [we're] surprised we are still in the mix. That makes tomorrow fun."

Aleh and Powrie were only one point behind the Austrian pair of Lara Vadlau and Jolanta Ogar and seven points adrift of the French combination of Camille Lecointre and Helene Defrance.

Meanwhile, boardsailor Natalia Kosinska was 14th and ninth on the penultimate day of the RS:X world championships in Israel and moved up to 18th overall.