91Èȱ¬

Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson in action on the English Channel

Olympic, World and European Laser champion Paul Goodison finished strongly with a first place in the final race to qualify in fifth for the medal race, albeit 33 points behind Australian Tom Slingsby, already assured of the win and the standout Laser sailor this week.

Sheffield's Goodison has won every regatta he has sailed in since his Beijing triumph but has been hampered by a shoulder injury in Weymouth.

"It's been a bit of a tricky week for me, only coming back two weeks ago from winning the worlds. I've been a little bit in party mode," said Goodison. "And with the shoulder injury I've struggled a bit in the stronger winds, though the last couple of days have been lighter and that's played into my hands a bit."

Britain Nick Thompson came second behind Goodison to qualify seventh, securing at least the top-10 finish which guarantees victory in the World Cup series.

In the women's matchracing semi-finals, Lucy Macgregor and crew Annie Lush and Ally Martin beat Claire Leroy's French team 3-2 after coming from behind and forcing a penalty in the deciding race to win by five boat lengths. They will meet the Netherlands crew of Renee Groeneveld in Saturday's best-of-five final.

Australian world champions Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jenson have dominated the 49er class with an unassailable 33-point cushion over nearest rivals Manu Dyen and Stephane Christidis of France.

There's fierce competition among the British 49er crews with medals a distinct possibility.

Veteran Paul Brotherton, 43, and crew Mark Asquith, the European silver medallists, are in fourth, 11.8 points off the bronze medal position. Chris Draper, an Olympic bronze medallist in Athens, and Peter Greenhalgh are a close fifth with Britain's Beijing competitors Stevie Morrison and Ben Rhodes in seventh.

David Evans and Simon Hiscocks finished 11th to miss out on the medal race by less than one point, while John Pink and Rick Peacock, who won silver at the world championships in July, ended 14th overall.

Windsurfer Bryony Shaw, who won bronze in Beijing, goes into Saturday's finale in second place, eight points behind Spaniard Blanca Manchon.

Three British sailors qualified for the Finn medal race, with Ed Wright second, nine points adrift of Croatian world number one Ivan Kljakovic Gaspic.

Giles Scott is sixth and still with an outside chance of a medal, while Andrew Mills is ninth.

"This year I just planned to make all the medal races, so consistently getting there again at this regatta is great," said Mills. "There have been three Brits in the medal races in most of the regattas this year which is great for the Brits especially as the competition is really tough."

Another three British crews will contest the men's 470 medal race.

Nic Asher and Elliott Willis are tied on 20 points with leaders Mathew Belcher and Matthew Page of Australia, with Luke Patience and Stuart Bithell 14 points adrift in third. Double Olympic silver medallist Nick Rogers and new crew Pom Green are sixth, 23 points adrift overall.

Bryony Shaw in action on the English Channel

The women's 470 class is tight, too, with Britain's Pippa Wilson, a gold medallist in the Yngling in Beijing, and Saskia Clark nine points back in third. The team of Penny Clark and Katrina Hughes also qualified in 10th.

Three British sailors will compete in the Laser Radial medal race - Charlotte Dobson, Alison Young and Andrea Brewster - though at eighth, ninth and 10th respectively they will be racing for pride.

In the Paralympic Sonar class, John Robertson, Hannah Stodel and Steve Thomas finished second, but did enough to clinch the season-long World Cup title by one point.
Megan Pascoe also won the World Cup in the mixed 2.4mR class after ending fourth overall in Weymouth.

Britain's Skud-18 crew of Alex Rickham and Niki Birrell trailed a strong American team by just one point with two races left. But despite posting two second places, the pair could not quite overhaul their rivals and had to settle for second in the World Cup series.

About 2,000 spectators are expected to turn up for free for Saturday's racing at the National Sailing Academy, and the prospects for a British gold rush look promising.

Watch the action live on Saturday from 0900-1500 BST on the 91Èȱ¬ Sport website (UK only), with the major finals from 1200-1400 BST, also on the 91Èȱ¬ red button.