MARSEILLE: Spain's Diego Botin and Florian Trettel stormed to Olympic men's skiff gold with a consummate medal race on Friday, after the Netherlands duo of Odile van Aanholt and Annette Duetz had clinched overall victory in the women's skiff.
The 'McKiwi' men's skiff of Isaac McHardie and William McKenzie won silver for New Zealand and Ian Barrows and Hans Henken of the United States bronze after the medal race points.
Medals are decided by the overall lowest series score in Olympic sailing, with the medal race carrying double points, which can significantly change the outcomes at the end.
Spain's Botin and Trettel, who are on a roll after winning the $2 million SailGP final in San Francisco in the far larger F50 catamaran class, led the medal race from start to finish.
They let their winged skiff capsize and roared with joy after crossing the finish line off the coast of Marseille.
Earlier, the Dutch women recovered from a dramatic last-minute error in their race to secure gold as the overall leaders on points, with Sweden landing silver and France bronze.
After a long pause while race officials crunched the numbers, the Dutch pair leapt into the sparkling Mediterranean in celebration as their Games win was confirmed.
World champions Van Aanholt and Duetz sailed a masterclass in near perfect conditions, both at full stretch on their trapezes as their winged skiff streaked around the course, its spinnaker in the colours of the Dutch flag powering them downwind in the final leg towards what appeared a certain win.
But the race took a dramatic turn when the Dutch duo thought they were heading for the finish, only to realise they were a few hundred metres in the wrong direction and have to dramatically alter course to the line.
The mistake allowed their Swedish training partners Vilma Bobeck and Rebecca Netzler to grab the medal race win and with it the silver medal.
French sailing veterans Sarah Steyaert and Charline Picon, failed to find the speed they produced in lighter winds and after stumbling on the start never got back into contention for gold, having to settle for bronze overall.
Supporters of 'Mama Team', as the French pair are known locally, gave them a rousing welcome when they came ashore.
Meanwhile, the Dutch gold medal winners were lifted shoulder height by their supporters in their skiff onto the beach in a traditional Olympic sailing victory tradition. - REUTERS