Australian 470 teams close to gold

QINGDAO: Australia's men's and women's 470 teams all but assured themselves of Olympic sailing gold yesterday, building commanding leads they will take into the medal race in two days.

Nathan Wilmot and Malcolm Page hold such an advantage over Sven Coster and Kalle Coster of the Netherlands after their 10-race opening series that they will only be denied gold if they do not make a genuine attempt to start and finish tomorrow's medal race - which carries a penalty of being placed 10th in the regatta.

"An Olympic gold medal is the only thing that is not in the trophy cabinet, but it is not quite there yet though," Wilmot told reporters.