Ainslie guaranteed Olympic silver

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Video - Britain's sailors poised for success

Ben Ainslie made sure of a silver medal as he closed in on Olympic gold in the Finn class sailing in Qingdao.

The double Olympic champion finished second in race eight and can only be caught by US rival Zach Railey, behind by 12 points, in Saturday's medal race.

"Second was a good result and I put some more boats between myself and Zach," Ainslie told BBC Sport.

Britain's Yngling crew are guaranteed bronze after finishing fifth in their last outing before the medal race.

It's not over yet by a long way, I'm going to have to go out there and get a good race in Ben Ainslie

Light, shifting winds off Qingdao saw events delayed for nearly four hours before racing finally got under way.

Ainslie battled to a second-place finish behind Spain as his nearest rivals, Railey and France's Guillaume Florent, finished 19th and 21st.

Florent can no longer challenge Ainslie for silver, leaving the Brit well ahead of Railey in what is now a two-horse race for gold.

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Video - Ainslie ready to go for gold

"I'll stick to Zach like glue, especially with this venue," said Ainslie.

"I hope we get some decent breeze. It was pretty tough today, but I'm pleased with the overall outcome.

"It's not over yet by a long way, I'm going to have to go out there and get a good race in."

The 31-year-old, born in Macclesfield, can clinch a gold medal for the third consecutive Games if he finishes no more than six places behind Railey in Saturday's medal race, in which points count double.

No matter the colour of Ainslie's medal, he will surpass Rodney Pattison as Britain's most successful Olympic sailor of all time.

606: DEBATE Discuss the Olympic sailing

The Yngling crew of Sarah Ayton, Sarah Webb and Pippa Wilson could only manage fifth place in their one race of the day, finishing 52 seconds behind the Netherlands.

Team GB now lead the class by just one point, but the United States placed down in tenth, guaranteeing at least a bronze medal for GB in Saturday's medal race.

With the Greek crew a distant third, realistically Britain can expect nothing less than silver.

"It's a fantastic feeling but we're all about gold, that's what we've always wanted from day one," said Wilson, while Webb told BBC Sport their focus was now solely on the battle with the Dutch for gold.

"We call it match racing, it's one boat against another," she said.

"All our tactics will be about beating them. We still have to finish the race, but it's about us and them."

Also in action for GB, Paul Goodison leads the Laser standings alongside Rasmus Myrgren after winning the fourth race.

Athens bronze medallist Nick Dempsey moved into medal contention by winning race five in the RS:X men's windsurfing race to move up to third overall.

Two classes were in action for the first time in Qingdao, with Leigh McMillan finishing sixth in the opening Tornado race and Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson placing seventh in the Star.

However, Penny Clark dropped from fifth to 10th in the Laser Radial standings after finishing well off the pace in 22nd.

And Bryony Shaw had a disastrous outing in the women's RS:X race, earning a disqualification for crossing the start line too early to stay in fifth place overall with 24 points.

Nick Rogers and Joe Glanfield dropped from third to fourth in the men's 470 after finishing 20th in race seven.