Dutch Skiff Sailors Clinch Gold Despite Error

Dutch Odile van Aanholt and Annette Duetz recovered from a dramatic last-minute error in their women's skiff race in Marseille to secure gold as the overall leaders on points, with Sweden landing silver and France bronze.

After a long pause while race officials crunched the numbers, the Dutch pair leapt into the sparkling Mediterranean in celebration as their Games win was confirmed.

World champions Van Aanholt and Duetz sailed a masterclass in near perfect conditions, both at full stretch on their trapezes as their winged skiff streaked around the course, its spinnaker in the colors of the Dutch flag powering them downwind in the final leg towards what appeared a certain win.

But the race took a dramatic turn when the Dutch duo thought they were heading for the finish, only to realize they were a few hundred meters in the wrong direction and had to dramatically alter course to the line.

The mistake allowed their Swedish training partners Vilma Bobeck and Rebecca Netzler to grab the medal race win and with it the silver medal.

French sailing veterans Sarah Steyaert and Charline Picon took bronze.

The men's skiff race was won by Spain's Diego Botin and Florian Trettel.

The 'McKiwi' men's skiff of Isaac McHardie and William McKenzie won silver for New Zealand and Ian Barrows and Hans Henken of the United States bronze after the medal race points.

Medals are decided by the overall lowest series score in Olympic sailing, with the medal race carrying double points, which can significantly change the outcomes at the end.

Botin and Trettel, who are on a roll after winning the $2 million SailGP final in San Francisco in the far larger F50 catamaran class, led the medal race from start to finish.