London 2012 champions top SKUD18 leaderboard on opening day of Para World Sailing Championships

Paralympic SKUD18 champions Dan Fitzgibbon and Liesl Tesch topped the leaderboard on the opening day of the Para World Sailing Championships ©ISAF

Paralympic SKUD18 champions Dan Fitzgibbon and Liesl Tesch of Australia began their pursuit of a successful title defence in style as they topped the leaderboard after the first day’s racing at the Para World Sailing Championships on home waters in Melbourne.

Amid near-perfect conditions at the Royal Yacht Club of Victoria, Fitzgibbon and Tesch asserted their authority by claiming a second place finish in the opener before clinching a dominant win in the final race.

Their performance saw them end day one at the summit of the standings ahead of British duo Alexandra Rickham and Niki Birrell.

Poland's Monica Gibes and Piotr Cichocki remain in contention after they took victory in the first race though they were unable to replicate that form in the second as they languished down in eighth.

“We are trying to settle in to a long week ahead,” Fitzgibbon said.

“It's just the first day and the first race was a bit on the light side and a bit choppy and we came away with a second, which was good to settle in.

“In the second race we got a bit more wind, 12-15 knots and we got away with a win in that one, which was good.

“We extended on the fleet and for the first day, we're pretty happy with where we are.”

Britain’s Megan Pascoe leads the 2.4mR category ahead of Germany's Heiko Kroeger ©Getty Images

Britain’s Megan Pascoe leads the 2.4mR category after she finished third in race one before winning the second race, though she has Heiko Kroeger, silver medallist at London 2012, for close comfort after the German posted two second-place results.

While Pascoe was in superb form, her compatriot and Paralympic champion Helena Lucas has some catching up to do following a disqualification in race one.

Elsewhere on the opening day of the event in Melbourne, there was more success for the home sailors as the Australian crew of Colin Harrison, Jonathan Harris and Russell Boaden secured two wins in the sonar class to move into an overall lead.

They are closely followed by New Zealand's Richard Dodson, Chris Sharp and Andrew May, who recorded a fifth and a second, while the Israeli trio of Dror Cohen, Arnon Efrati and Shimon Ben Yakov are a point further adrift.

As well as world titles, vital qualification spots are up for grabs, with seven places in the 2.4mR, five in the SKUD18 and six in the Sonar available during the event, which continues tomorrow.