Abu Dhabi — The 2015 ISAF Sailing World Cup Final is set for a dramatic climax in Abu Dhabi after a spectacular day of racing saw the sport's top elite athletes battling to grab the initiative in the gold medal chase. Honors in the eight Olympic sailing classes as well as an open kiteboarding competition will now be decided in a tense final day of medal races at Abu Dhabi Sailing and Yacht Club Sunday, with several defending champions coming under pressure. Brazilian Ricardo Santos holds a slender two-point advantage over Spain's Ivan Pastor Lafuente in the Men's RS:X class after winning the second of three races in Day 3 of the regatta, which is sponsored by ADS Securities and Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority. Byron Kokkalanis of Greece, last year's silver medal winner, is third after taking the last race of the day which saw British overnight leader Tom Squires come home in 12th, slipping to fourth overall. But with double points counting in the medal races, the tussle for gold is still wide open. It is going to take a last day disaster to prevent Bryony Shaw from landing her second successive World Cup gold medal in Abu Dhabi after the British sailor underlined her dominance of the Women's RS:X class, winning all three of today's races. With six victories overall in nine races, Shaw leads by 7pts from Italy's Flavia Tartaglini who finished second to her in two of the races, with Brazilian Patricia Freitas in third another six points adrift after a run of 6th, 2nd and 3rd Saturday. In an offshore breeze of 8-13 knots at Abu Dhabi Sailing and Yacht Club, Australian Tom Burton held onto his overnight 3-point lead in the 20-boat Laser class from Brazilian Robert Scheidt after both suffered, and discarded, their worst results of the regatta so far. Burton followed 8th with 4th and five-times Olympic medalist Scheidt went from 2nd to 14th, while Britain's Nick Thompson is in third another 5 points away. The day's race winners were Swede Jesper Stalheim and Cypriot Pavlos Kontides who are 5th and 6th respectively. Another fascinating medal race battle for gold is assured in the Laser Radials where Holland's Marit Bouwmeester leads by a single point from Sweden's Josefin Olsson after both had mixed fortunes. In the open kiteboarding event defending champion Oliver Bridge of Great Britain lost his lead to Poland's Maks Żakowski, the Pole holding a single point lead as the competition continued this afternoon. Another Pole, Blazej Ozog, was in third another 6 points away.
