Only 25 boats from the 72-strong 49er fleet were able to make the gold fleet races on the final day of qualifying.

Relegation from the gold fleet could have ended Fletcher and Sign’s Olympic dream, but they safely advanced thanks to sixth and eighth-place finishes,

Poland's Tomasz Januszewski and Jake Nowak had a 10th and a victory to climb up to 19th, while Germany’s Tim Elsner and Moritz Klingenberg carded an 18th and 28th to drop to 28th overall from 13th.

Unluckily for some, the poor conditions meant the final qualifying race was left off the programme to allow racing in the 49erFX fleet.

Carl Sylvan and Marcus Anjemark, still on a high from the Trofeo Princesa Sofía after Sweden took the final Olympic qualifying berth, were left outside by just a single point.

They lodged a protest for an incident between them and the Polish team, aiming to edge up the rankings to make the gold fleet.

The Portuguese Olympic-bound sailors Jorge Lima and Jose Costa also protested, feeling the conditions should have forced the abandonment of the eighth race of the series - a race where they finished third from last and that they could not discard due to a previous DNF.

The Swedish team won their protest, forcing the Polish team out of the gold fleet, while the Portuguese lost theirs and stayed below the line.

The conditions got windier for the 49erFX racing with only two races held after three hours on the water.

Few teams made it through the day without any capsizes, but Italy’s Giulia Conti and Francesca Clapcich remain in the lead nonetheless. 

They are followed by Argentina’s Vicky Travascio and Sol Branz, who had the best day of all the 36 teams.

There are only 12 points separating the top nine teams ahead of the gold fleet.

Gold fleet racing for both the 49er and the 49erFX will be spread across the final three days of competition.

The 49er silver fleet will be split into two equal fleets, who will continue to race on an equal footing for places 26th through 72nd.