Australians lock up sailing gold
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Australia's Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen cruised to the gold medal in the men's 49er sailing competition Wednesday.
The two finished fourth in the medal race, but had already secured the victory thanks to a strong showing in the 15-race opening series. Outteridge and Jensen accrued 48 points during that stage of the competition, based on the ascending point system -- 1 for first, 2 for second and so on.
Points are doubled for the medal race, but the Australian duo had a large enough cushion and couldn't have been overtaken.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}In fact, the silver medal was also already assured to New Zealand's Peter Burling and Blair Tuke.
The only medal decided Wednesday was bronze. Denmark's Allan Norregaard and Peter Lang grabbed it thanks to a third-place finish in the medal race.
In other sailing action, quarterfinals of the women's Elliott 6m match racing competition were completed.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Each match is comprised of five races and the winner is the first crew to reach five points. Wednesday was the second day of the quarterfinals, and Spain quickly moved on by beating France to gain a 3-0 edge.
The United States' boat -- skippered by Anna Tunnicliffe, a 2008 gold medalist in another class -- won Wednesday's first race. But the Finns won the next to clinch a 3-1 victory and a spot in the semis.
Finland's semifinal opponent will be Australia, which won twice Wednesday to defeat the Netherlands by a 3-1 margin.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The quarterfinal between Great Britain and Russia came down to the fifth and final race, which Russia won to advance. Semifinals begin Friday.
The women's 470 (two-person dinghy) class held its final two opening series races, and boats from New Zealand and Great Britain will head into the medal race tied for first place.