The pair finished in fourth place in the final race which proved enough to hold off Americans Jennifer French and Jean-Paul Creignou, who claimed silver, and the Australian team of Daniel Fitzgibbon and Liesl Tesch, who took bronze.

The victory means that Rickham and Birrell have successfully defended their world title although their London 2012 Paralympic qualification was already assured when they were the first Britons selected for the Games last August.

In the 2.4mR class, there was success for France as Damien Seguin came first in the final race to claim overall victory and the world title.

Thierry Schmitter of the Netherlands came second overall after crossing the line of the final race in ninth place, while Canada's Paul Tingley took third overall after finishing in seventh.

Britain's Helena Lucas just missed out on a medal as she finished fourth in the 2.4mR category.

Meanwhile, the third and final gold medal at the prestigious competition went to the trio of Alexander Wang-Hanse, Marie Solberg and Per Eugen Kristiansen of Norway for overall victory in the sonar class.

The French team of Bruno Jourdren, Eric Flageul and Nicolas Vimont-Vicary took second place overall, while the British team of John Robertson, Hannah Stodel and Steve Thomas, who have already been selected for the Paralympic Games, took the bronze medal.

The world's top disability sailors will now turn their attention to the London 2012 Paralympic Games where the Paralympic sailing event will take place on the waters of Weymouth Bay from September 1 to 6.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


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