Mattias Coutts and Oscar Gunn have put themselves firmly in medal contention at the Olympic Classes Regatta in San Pedro, climbing to second overall in the 49er fleet with just one qualifying day to go.
Day four was their best yet. The Kiwi pair posted a race win, a second, and a sixth, their second bullet of the regatta, and that points haul all but guarantees them a spot in Saturday's medal series, where only the top 10 boats in each fleet advance.
Germany's Richard Schulteis and Fabian Rieger have led the 49er fleet throughout the week. Coutts and Gunn sit second, with France's Erwan Fischer and Clément Péquin third. Well placed to convert qualifying form into a podium finish.
The other two Kiwi 49er crews face a harder final day, and the arithmetic is unforgiving. Francesco Kayrouz and Hamish McLaren are 14th, with world and European champions Seb Menzies and George Lee Rush two places further back in 16th. Both need to crack the top 10 to reach Sunday's finale.
There is plenty riding on the Nacra 17, too. Micah Wilkinson and Kate Stewart sit ninth, right on the cut, in a fleet that has been tightly packed all week. Sweden's Emil Järudd and Hanna Jonsson lead by a single point from France's Tim Mourniac and Aloïse Retornaz, with Dutch pair Willemijn Offerman and Scipio Houtman third.
A 140-boat, 20-nation fleet on the future LA 2028 Olympic waters, 27 Olympians and seven Olympic medallists among them. The racing across all three classes has been genuinely close, and the final qualifying day will settle a great deal.
