Olympic Sailing:Annalise Murphy was reeled in by Belgian Evi van Acker today and surrendered top spot in the women's Laser Radial rankings for the first time in eight races at Weymouth.
The Dubliner, who won the first four races of her event, actually extended her lead over van Acker earlier this afternoon, when finishing second to China’s Lijia Xu in the race seven.
However, van Acker battled it out with Sari Multala of Finland in the next race and took first by eight seconds to move to 23 points overall and into the slenderest of leads over Murphy, who finished 10th.
Two races remain before the top 10 medal event on Monday. Marit Bouwmeester of the Netherlands is third on 26 points, two ahead of Xu.
Peter O'Leary and David Burrowsbooked their place in the medal race of the men's Star after a seventh place finish in race 10.
The Irish pair were 10th overall after an 11th place finish in race nine this afternoon and could not afford to drop any lower. Seventh was good enough to move up to ninth on 75 points, three ahead of France, but there will be no chance of a medal for the Irish pair.
Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson are firmly in control in first place on 18 points. A top five finish in the medal race should see them collect gold.
Ryan Seaton and Matt McGoverndropped back to 11th in the overall standings in the men's 49er class after finishing 14th, seventh and 15th in their three races today.
Four races remain, in total, before the medal event next Wednesday, meaning the Irish boat will need to climb into the top 10 when racing resumes on Sunday and continues on Monday.
Australia and New Zealand occupy the top two spots on 42 and 51 net totals respectively, while the Finn’s are third on 66.
James Espey began the day 45th in the Laser standings, with no chance of a place in the medal race, but finished 28th and 27th today to move up to 38th with two races remaining.
Ger Owens and Scott Flaniganare 25th of 27 in the men's 470 after placing 24th and 25th in their two races today.