 Morrison and Rhodes won with a 17-point margin |
British duo Stevie Morrison and Ben Rhodes clinched gold in the 49er class in the World Sailing Championships. The win took the final British medal haul to two golds and four bronze and they qualified for the Bejing Olympics in all 11 boat classes.
Morrison and Rhodes went into Friday's medal race with an 11 point lead over their nearest Austrian rivals Nico Delle Karth and Nikolaus Leopold.
After a slow start they finished fourth to extend their lead to 17 points.
"It's amazing - definitely the highlight of our sailing careers so far, and hopefully a vital stepping stone in our campaign for Beijing next year," said Morrison, who is based with Rhodes in Exmouth, Devon.
"We had the yellow dot on our sail from day dot. I don't know if anyone's ever done that at a 49er World Championship before, but who cares? We have now!"
The 2006 World Champions Chris Draper and Simon Hiscocks finished the 49er medal race in eighth place, for ninth overall in Cascais, Portugal.
Christina Bassadone and Saskia Clark clinched bronze in the 470 women's event, winning the medal race by a considerable distance.
Team GBR also clinched the IOC President's Cup for the overall top nation at the event.
E-mail this to a friend 
Printable version 