1 May 2016

NZ pair guaranteed gold

3:43 pm on 1 May 2016

New Zealand 49er sailors Blair Tuke and Peter Burling have an unassailable 48 point lead heading into the final day of the latest World Cup regatta in France.

Peter Burling and Blair Tuke on their way to their 25th straight 49er regattta win, in Bacelona.

Peter Burling and Blair Tuke on their way to their 25th straight 49er regattta win, in Bacelona. Photo: Supplied

The result means the pair will start tomorrow's medal race already having secured gold.

The victory extends their winning streak to a stunning 26 consecutive regatta victories in the class.

Burling says, "We were pretty happy with how we started our day, we managed to get ourselves back to a pretty solid one in the first, win the second one and then a couple of swims in the last one (chuckling) and managed to get ourselves black flagged."

Tuke said, "We were a bit disappointed we finished how we have but at the same time we sailed really well this week and it's been great fun to have some pretty strong winds."

With the Olympic Games now less than 100 days away from starting the pair see this victory as another stepping stone towards Rio 2016.

In the women's 470 class Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie have slipped to sixth overall in the standings.

A disappointed Aleh said it was a rough day.

"We thought we actually sailed well, but just nothing seemed to be willing to go our way! If we were left the right paid, if we were on the left the right paid."

"So with today that puts us rather out of contention for tomorrow's medal race… We are in 6th place and no chance of a medal. But still, it's a good chance to practice another medal race."

Meanwhile Josh Junior heads into the Finn medal race in fourth overall after finishing third on the penultimate day.

-RNZ