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Italian lightweight fliers Gabrio ZANDONA and Andrea TRANI continue to forge ahead in tricky conditions and will lead the gold fleet into the first day of finals action in the men's fleet at the 470 World Championships tomorrow.

So far this week, conditions at Mordialloc Sailing Club have suited the 2003 World Champions, who finished third in race 6 of the Sail Melbourne event, the only race held today.

"We are obviously very happy with our position at the moment but it is tomorrow when the real racing starts for us," ZANDONA said.

"We were expecting much stronger winds here so we have been very pleased so far with conditions - we hope they stay like this, not so strong, because we are a light crew and much more suited to this."

"There are a lot of heavier crews here who can go a lot faster than us, so we will see what happens next," added ZANDONA

Beijing bound Australians Nathan WILMOT and Malcolm PAGE were visibly disappointed with their 15th today, dropping them further out of touch with the leaders in 17th place overall on 37 points - already 25 points adrift of the leading Italians.

There were plenty of mixed results out on the water, with Nic ASHER and Elliot WILLIS (GBR) maintaining outright second position overall on 14 points, despite crossing the line in 13th place today.

Fellow Brits Nick ROGERS and Joe GLANFIELD lost one position on the fleet following a 17th, giving up third place to Spaniards Onan BARREIROS and Aaron SARMIENTO.

The Spanish crew elevated themselves from sixth following a second place.

Kiwi teenagers Carl EVANS and Peter BURLING continued their outstanding regatta with a solid second place finish. Both 17, they said today they were enjoying the whole experience.

"We had a pretty good start and picked the first shift … we're right up there in everything."

"We just want to go out and have fun really, there's a lot of good guys around us," EVANS said

Things will continue to heat up for the youngsters as the finals series progresses, but currently they are looking good to secure New Zealand one of the eight remaining national places for the 2008 Olympic Sailing Competition.

Meanwhile the women's crews were less fortunate today, with their race 6 abandoned late afternoon due to a thunderstorm.

After five completed races, third placed Australian's Elise RECHICHI and Tessa PARKINSON said they were disappointed not to get a race in today.

"It was really shifty and light conditions out there … our favourite conditions, so it would have been good if we got a race in," PARKINSON said.

"But you have to play with what you get and we're still keen to race tomorrow and get out there and get a fresh start," she added.

The women's results remain unchanged after day three of competition, with Giulia CONTI and Giovanna MICOL (ITA) leading the fleet into their finals series starting tomorrow on nine points, three points clear of Marcelien DE KONING and Lobke BERKHOUT (NED) with RECHICHI and PARKINSON one point further back.

Results - click here
470 World Championships - www.sailmelbourne.com.au/event/470worldchampionships2008