Thompson takes control in Miami with two straight wins

DEFENDING champion Nick Thompson leapfrogged Brazil's overnight leader Bruno Fontes to take charge of the Laser class at the Rolex Miami Olympic Classes regatta.

SITTING PRETTY: Nick Thompson scooped two wins from two to edge closer to his second consecutive title in Miami (OnEdition)

The Brit was lying second overnight but after two wins from two races on Thursday, he established an emphatic 26 point lead at the top with three races remaining over the final two days.

But while Thompson admitted things couldn't have gone better on Thursday, he insisted his second consecutive title wasn't in the bag quite yet.

"The race certainly isn't over," said Thompson. "I know there are three more races but I'm glad to have come through a tough day like that.

"When you're in sync and you know you're sailing well, it's easy to go off on your own way and pull well away.

"But once I got ahead, I just decided to be conservative and consolidate so my leads were not huge."

Meanwhile, British match racing trio Lucy Macgregor, Annie Lush and Ally Martin continued their unbeaten run to establish a 2-0 lead in their quarter final against Denmark's Lotte Meldgaard.

Having won their gold round-robin group, the British trio has now won 14 consecutive matches in Miami and need just one more victory against Meldgaard to progress to a semi final against either France's world number one Claire Leroy or USA's former world champion Sally Barkow.

Great Britain's Ed Wright and Giles Scott remain in the top two spots in the Finn class, with overall World Cup champion Wright picking up a first and fourth in Thursday's races to extend his lead to 12.

Two-time world champions Nic Asher and Elliot Willis slipped to second in the 470 class after finishing 16th and fifth in their two races while Alison Young remains in the hunt for a medal in the Laser Radial, currently sitting in third.

The three Paralympic classes are set to wind to an end on Friday with John Robertson, Hannah Stodel and Steve Thomas well-placed in the Sonar class.

The trio picked up a second and first in their two races on Thursday to lie in second place, three points behind Norway's Aleksander Wang-Hansen, Per Eugen Kristiansen and Marie Solberg.

Meanwhile, Alexandra Rickham and Niki Birrel are third in the SKUD class and in the 2.4mR, Megan Pascoe is sixth and Helena Lucas ninth.

In the remaining classes, Bryony Shaw is fifth and Nick Dempsey eighth in their respective RS:X windsurfing events while Dave Evans and Ed Powys are eighth in the 49er class and Sarah Ayton and Saskia Clark 14th in the women's 470.