British sailors lead in Olympic Star class

WEYMOUTH, England, July 31 (UPI) -- Defending champions Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson finished first and second in their two races Tuesday to take a narrow lead in the Olympic Star class regatta.

After six of the 10 preliminary races that will be sailed, Percy and Simpson had 21 points and were two in front of Brazilians Rober Scheidt and Bruno Prada.

The winning boat in each of the fleet races receives one point, the second place boat gets two points and on down the order. The worst performance during the preliminary races is then thrown out, after which a final medal race is held. The points in that race may not be thrown out and they count double.

Denmark's Jonas Hogh-Christensen built a 10-point lead over two-time defending gold medalist Ben Ainslie of Britain in the Finn Class. Hogh-Christensen had a first and second-place finish Tuesday and his double-digit advantage already takes into account the dismissal of Ainslie's worst score.

Annalise Murphy is threatening to run away with the women's Laser Radial gold medal. She has won all four races contested to this point and has a 12-point lead over Evi Van Acker of Belgium.

Tom Slingsby of Australia remains in front in the Laser class while two other Australians -- Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen -- took the lead after four races in the 49er division.

The men's and women's windsurfing competitions got underway Tuesday with Dorian van Rijsselberge winning both of the men's races. In the women's event, Marina Alabau Neira of Spain finished first and second in the two races and had the lead overall.