PORTLAND-based Alison Young consolidated her ninth place finish overall with a seventh place showing in the women’s Laser Radial medal race at the ISAF Sailing World Championships.

Young went into the day out of contention for the medal race spots, but aimed to finish on a high after an illness-hit season, with the World Championships only her second event back.

She was in third in the 10-boat race after the first lap, but losing a number of places on the second lap saw her cross seventh to maintain her overall ninth spot.

“I had a good start to race with a good first beat and I was in a good position. Then on the second beat I just got stuck with my head in the boat and didn’t play the shifts and made quite a lot of losses,” she explained.

Elsewhere, Bryony Shaw, who trains at the Weymouth & Portland National Sailing Academy and Weymouth’s Nick Dempsey both ensured their berths in Friday’s windsurfing medal races.

Dempsey hit back on the water yesterday to see him into sixth place overall, but even so, the Olympic silver medallist is set to concede his World Championship crown.

“It was an important day. I really needed to find some form and put in a good solid set of results. I had a 13, 4, 2 which is much better and it was good to be racing at the front again,” Dempsey explained.

“I’m in sixth place overall. The medals are slightly out of reach which is a bit disappointing. It will be good to finish somewhere around the top-five.”

Portland-based Giles Scott continued his fine form in the Finn class to post a fifth-straight race win and a second, having to pull back from a mid-fleet position to take the win. He now has a 13-point lead over Frenchman Jonathan Lobert after six completed races.

The 49erFX sailors have now completed their five-race qualification series with three British boats making the cut. Weymouth-based Charlotte Dobson and Sophie Ainsworth are in second overall after a second and a third on the water yesterday.

Weymouth-based Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark are in fifth overall after eight races in the 470 Women’s event, with one more fleet racing day to go.

In the 470 Men’s category, Portland-based Luke Patience and Elliot Willis picked up 3, 18, 5 to sit in seventh overall after their first day of gold fleet racing.

Nick Thompson claimed Great Britain’s first medal of the Championships yesterday, with a bronze in the Laser class.