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British sailors Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark have won bronze in the 470 class at the Sailing World Championships in Santander, Spain.

Their performance means Team GB have qualified for the 470 women's category at the Rio Olympics in two years' time.

Mills and Clarke - London 2012 silver medallists - took second in their final race to secure third place overall.

Meanwhile Luke Patience and Elliot Willis just missed out on a podium place in the men's event.

The European champions were second in their medal race to finish in fourth place overall.

"I've never finished fourth before," said Olympic silver medallist Patience after the race. "It's a new feeling and not one I'm particularly keen on."

Mills and Clark were pleased to secure a medal but said they had to improve.

"This is a big deal in the build-up to an Olympic Games so to come here and perform we are really happy," said Mills. "It's not quite the colour we wanted but we have a lot to work on."

Fellow Briton Giles Scott is closing in on his second world title in a row.

The 27-year-old, who has not lost a regatta since his return to the Finn class last September, has a commanding 20-point lead over his nearest challenger Ivan Kljakovic Gaspic of Croatia and a further 13 points over Olympic bronze medallist Jonathan Lobart of France.

Meanwhile, light winds cancelled the final two fleet races of the heavyweight class on Saturday. Britain's Ed Wright is fourth in the overall standings going into Sunday's medal decider.

In qualifying for all the final day medal races, Great Britain has ensured country qualification across the 10 classes for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.