Olympic Sailing 2016: Medal Winners, Points, Standings and Thursday's Results

Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark made good on their bid to earn gold for Team Great Britain after the 470 women's sailing race at the 2016 Rio Olympics on Thursday. The British pair actually finished eighth in the final race, but they took gold due to their lead accrued during previous events. 

Later, world No. 1 pair Sime Fantela and Igor Marenic took gold for Croatia in the men's 470, an eventful race that saw Australia and Greece wage a fierce battle for silver that ultimately saw the former rewarded.

For Fantela and Marenic, there was the added distinction of ensuring their nation's first gold in this event.

Bernat Armangue/Associated Press

Then, it was the turn of illustrious New Zealand duo Peter Burling and Blair Tuke to officially seal the gold medal that was already firmly in their grasp ahead of the men's 49er-class race.

Finally, world No. 1 duo Martine Grael and Kahena Kunze claimed gold for host nation Brazil in the women's 49er FX event, after the medal race went right down to the line, with the winners just edging New Zealand.

Here are the results and medal winners after Thursday's races:

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
470 Women's Medal Race	Saskia Clark and Hannah Mills (GBR)	Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie (NZL)	Helene Defrance and Camille Lecointre (FRA)
470 Men's Medal Race	Sime Fantela and Igor Marenic (CRO)	Mathew Belcher and Will Ryan (AUS)	Panagiotis Mantis and Pavlos Kagialis (GRE)
49er Men's Medal Race	Peter Burling and Blair Tuke (NZL)	Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen (AUS)	Erik Heil and Thomas Ploessel (GER)
49er FX Women's Medal Race	Martine Grael and Kahena Kunze (BRA)	Alex Maloney and Molly Meech (NZL)	Jena Hansen and Katja Steen Salskov-Iversen (DEN)

Race	First	Second	Third
470 Women's Medal Race	Tina Mrak and Veronika Macarol (SLO)	Afrodite Zegers and Anneloes van Veen (NED)	Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie (NZL)
470 Men's Medal Race	Yannick Brauchli and Romuald Hausser (SUI)	Stuart McNay and Dave Hughes (USA)	Luke Patience and Chris Grube (GBR)
49er Men's Medal Race	Peter Burling and Blair Tuke (NZL)	Julien D'Ortoli and Noe Delpech (FRA)	Jonas Warrer and Christian Peter Lubeck (SUI)
49er FX Women's Medal Race	Martine Grael and Kahena Kunze (BRA)	Alex Maloney and Molly Meech (NZL)	Giulia Conti and Francesca Clapcich (ITA)

Recap

With medal hopefuls already in strong positions, it wasn't a day to worry about where they finished in the race itself but rather to stay focused on how close they stayed to one another. So the individual rivalries proved to be fascinating viewing.

In particular, Australia, Croatia and Greece tried several strategies to at least hold, or preferably improve, their medal positions in the men's 470.

Matthias Hangst/Getty Images

As a result, the Australians were under pressure late on, with their crew work becoming sloppy as Sweden pushed for more than fourth. Australia's focus on the Swedes gave Croatia the lead in the race for gold, while Greece were forced to go around the left side.

Australia regained the initiative for silver, as crew Will Ryan kept the rig bouncing from the trapeze, but a near fall from him soon let Greece steal a march. Meanwhile, Croatia maintained a steady pace with the gold almost in the bag as the final lap gave way to the short finish.

It was already clear Fantela and Marenic could just leave the Australian and Greek teams to do battle and decide the destination of silver and bronze. Instead, the Croatian sailors were able to comfortably cross the line to officially mark their moment of history, per World Sailing:

Team GB got its second sailing gold moments earlier when Mills and Clark were confirmed as overall winners of the women's event. That meant New Zealand's Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie settled for silver, a reversal of fortunes for both teams compared to the 2012 London Olympics, per Helen Pidd of the Guardian.

BBC Sport's Juliette Ferrington and BBC 5 live Sport relayed some reaction from the new gold winners:

The destination of gold was all but known ahead of the final race in the men's 49er-class event. New Zealand pair Burling and Tuke had virtually guaranteed the top prize.

Yet, the race for silver was a congested one, with Germany, Australia and Great Britain all with legitimate hopes. Still, it was Burling and Tuke who were the first to round the top of the course at the initial mark. Even without the obvious incentive to win, Burling and Tuke controlled the race throughout.

Further behind, Team GB had battled back by the third mark, with Dylan Fletcher-Scott and Alain Sign making a strong push to regain ground in the medal picture. Disaster soon struck, though, when their vessel suffered a capsize under pressure from Poland. The setback ultimately condemned the British pair to sixth place.

Bernat Armangue/Associated Press

In the silver-medal race, Germany tried to force the issue by pushing their boat to a jibe at the fifth mark. However, Australia held firm to make certain of silver for the deposed Olympic champions.

The main issue at stake in the women's 49er FX race was the distinction of being the most successful nation at these Games. Team GB's bid was dented when Charlotte Dobson and Sophie Ainsworth hit the committee boat early on.

So New Zealand's Alex Maloney and Molly Meech were able to take advantage, and they trailed Italy after rounding the top of the course after the first mark. Meanwhile, things got worse for Dobson and Ainsworth when they capsized ahead of the final two laps.

Then, it was Maloney and Meech battling Brazil's Grael and Kunze for gold, while Spain and Denmark vied for bronze. Brazil and New Zealand traded jibes in a drag race, with the former in the lead, eventually taking gold by a slender margin.