Ian Barker and Simon Hiscocks won a silver medal for Britain in the 49er sailing class after finishing third in the 16th and final race of the tournament.

The British pair were already assured of either silver or bronze and needed to finish within five places of the USA to claim second place overall.

Britain got off to a good start and were third early on behind Italy and Finland, who had already claimed the gold medal, with the Americans behind them.

But America cut through the field and worked their way up to first place to put the British crew under pressure.

At one point Britain fell back to sixth and had they lost one more place they would have conceded the silver medal position to the Americans.

But, as the race unfolded, Britain moved up to a safe fourth position behind Poland and Spain.

America went away from the pack to claim a convincing victory but it was not enough to lift them out of the bronze medal position.

Poland took second place 1:26 seconds behind and Britain finished third a further 10 seconds back.