The Olympic champion, alongside Will Ryan, claimed the gold medal in the men's event at the Santander 2014 ISAF Sailing World Championships today on what is also his 32nd birthday.

"It is really cool, amazing," Belcher said.

"Now I can really celebrate.

"It is a shame my wife and son can't be here, but I will see them tomorrow.

"It is so cool and I didn't think we would be in this position."

Croatian pairing Šime Fantela and Igor Marenić held onto their silver medal position, despite a strong challenge from Greek duo Panagiotis Mantis and Pavlos Kagialis, who secured bronze.

In the women's event, winners Lara Vadlau and Jola Ogar of Austria knew they had to finish ahead of New Zealand's Olympic champions Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie to secure gold and after making the perfect start, they never looked back.

"It is amazing, we are world champions," said Vadlau.

"I told Jola before the race that we must win it because I want to have a gold 470 on my mainsail."

The Kiwi's managed to hold on for silver, while Great Britain's Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark performed superbly to secure bronze.

Meanwhile in the 49er, New Zealand's Peter Burling and Blair Tuke defended their world title and extended their undefeated streak to eight regattas since the London 2012 Games.

The pair sailed to a comfortable fifth place finish on the only race of the penultimate day.

Denmark's Jonas Warrer and Anders Thomsen and Australia's Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen currently occupy second and third positions ahead of tomorrow's medal race but they will have to be aware of Portuguese duo Jorge Lima and Jose Costa who are also in contention.

Austria's Lara Vadlau and Jola Ogar prevailed in the women's 470 fleet
©Sailing Energy and Thom Touw
The world title was also successfully retained in the Nacra 17 as France's Billy Besson and Marie Riou sealed victory with a day to spare.

"We are happy now and it was a good week for us," said Besson.

"We did a lot of training during the winter with the French teams, which made us stronger.

"This week, we worked very hard to reach this position.

"Sometimes we made some mistakes but we fought back to keep our position in the front."

Italy's Vittorio Bissaro and Silvia Sicouri currently lie in second overall with Australia's Jason Waterhouse and Lisa Darmanin in third.

In the Finn class, Britain's Giles Scott takes a 20-point lead into tomorrow's medal race after the last of the fleet racing series was abandoned today.

Scott, who only has to finish the race tomorrow to lift his second Finn World Championship gold, said: "I'm nearly there.

"It might just seem like a formality tomorrow but I've still got to finish without having an OCS and without gear failure to make absolutely sure.

"But other than that, I am very happy."

In the 49erFX, Denmark's Ida Nielsen and Marie Olsen will go head to head with Brazil's Martine Grael and Kahena Kunze for the World Championship title, while the Italian pairing of Giulia Conti and Francesca Clapcich held onto the bronze medal position ahead of the final medal race.