Kiwi sailors Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie have made a strong start to their Olympic title defence in the women's 470 class, sitting in second place after their opening day of racing.
The women's 470 pairing - nicknamed Team Jolly - picked up a sixth place and a first in their opening two races on a difficult day on Guanabara Bay earlier this morning (NZ time).
The shifty conditions, which saw massive swings in the wind direction during the course of racing, posed problems for the fleet, and in particular two of Aleh and Powrie's main rivals for gold.
The British crew of Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark are in sixth overall after recording fourth and seventh placings in their two races sailed today, while France's Camille Lecointre and Helene Defrance are further back in 14th.
The Japanese pairing of Ai Kondo Yoshida and Miho Yoshioka are the surprise leaders after day one, with their first and fourth placings putting them two points ahead of Team Jolly.
Aleh and Powrie are seeking to become the first Kiwi sailors to win back to back gold.
470 competition
The men's 470 crew of Daniel Willcox and Paul Snow-Hansen are also among the leaders after a strong opening day.
The pair, who are competing in their first Olympic regatta together, are in third position overall after kicking their regatta off with a second and 10th placing.
Croatians Sime Fantela and Igor Marenic lead the fleet with a handy six point advantage over the Australian pairing of Mathew Belcher and Will Ryan.
Snow-Hansen and then crewmate Jason Saunders, who has made the switch to the Nacra 17 class, finished fifth in the same event in London four years ago.
Laser class
In the Laser class, Sam Meech has slipped back to seventh overall after struggling in the later races today.
Sitting in third place after the opening day, Meech opened day two with a sixth place, but followed up with a 14th and 17th placing. The Laser fleet has a rest day tomorrow, with just four races remaining before the top 10 ranked sailors take part in the medal race.
Nacra 17
In the Nacra 17, Gemma Jones and Saunders are in 13th position after two races sailed on day one.
Josh Junior had another disappointing day on the water, slumping to 20th place overall to be well out of medal contention in the Finn class.
After a disastrous opening day, where picking up an 18th and a UNF, Junior needed two top five results to get himself back in the medal hunt, but the 26-year-old could only manage a best finish of 14th in his two races.
