Yachting: NZ sailors earn gold and bronze

Jo Aleh and Olivia Powrie from New Zealand. Photo / Onedition

New Zealand's 470 women's sailors have tuned up for London in perfect style, winning gold at the dress rehearsal event on the Olympic course in England overnight.

Jo Aleh and Olivia Powrie emerged triumphant from the Sail for Gold world cup regatta in Weymouth, receiving a huge boost ahead of the Games in six weeks' time.

A third place finish in the double-point medal race was enough for Aleh and Powrie to keep their advantage over the chasing teams, accrued by winning the final three series races.

The pair won the same event in 2011 but since then have topped the podium at only one major event, the 470 Spring Cup earlier this year. They finished the 2011 world championships with bronze and the 2012 edition in fourth, and must be considered a medal prospect in London as the commence their final preparations for the Games.

And Aleh and Powrie weren't the only Kiwis to climb onto the medal dais after the final day's racing. Their male counterparts in the 270, Paul Snow-Hansen with Jason Saunders, claimed bronze after finishing their medal race with a solid fourth place.

They entered this regatta on the back of a second place finish at the previous world cup and will continue to seek the podium at the final regatta in Germany later this month, before they attempt to emulate this week's efforts at the Olympics.

In the laser fleet, Andy Maloney sailed a great race and pushed regatta winner Tom Slingsby around the course for a second place finish, but could only move up to seventh overall. A ninth place finish in the medal round meant Andrew Murdoch, New Zealand's Olympic laser representative, slid back to finish the regatta in ninth overall.

The women's match racing crew of Stephanie Hazard, Jenna Hansen and Susannah Pyatt were knocked out of the competition in the quarter-final by France, meaning a seventh place finish in the regatta.

In total, New Zealand finished as fourth best nation with six teams finishing inside the top ten.

Final standings from the Sail for Gold world cup regatta in Weymouth, England overnight (NZT):

470 women's (race results in brackets)

Jo Aleh and Olivia Powrie, 1st (5, 15, 3, 8, 8,1, 1, 1, 6)

470 men's

Paul Snow Hansen and Jason Saunders, 3rd (9, 4, 1, 1, 1, 1, 3, 10, 8)

Laser

Andy Maloney, 7th (15, 8, 17, 4, 4, 4, 1, 11, 4)

Andrew Murdoch, 9th (15, 2, 10, 5, 20, 8, 8, 5, 18)

Sam Meech, 20th (11, 17, 20, 8, 7, 12, 17, 30)

RS:X men's

JP Tobin, 9th (19, 6,14, 9, 9, 3, 4, 4, 20)

Women's match racing

Stephanie Hazard, Jenna Hansen, Susannah Pyatt, 7th

49er

Peter Burling and Blair Tuke, 11th (3, 10, 14, 10, 7, 8, 2, 7, 4, 9)

Marcus Hansen and Josh Porebski, 13th (7, 6, 1, 7, 9, 10, 8, 10, 6, 13)

Finn

Josh Junior, 18th (10,19, 11, 23, 23, 16, 29)

Matt Coutts, 29th (11,34, 32, 31, 18, 34, 28)

Rob Coutts, 38th (19, 40, 39, 38, 39, 40, 35)

Laser Radial

Sara Winther, 41st (19, 26, BFD, 19, 10, 12)

RS:X women's

Natalia Kosinska, 17th (9, 10, 14, 17, 25, 44, 23)

Steffanie Williams, 23rd (25, 31, 21, 16, 15, 25, 20)

Star

Hamish Pepper and Jim Turner, 11th (8, 7,12, 11, 11, 8)