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The pair were matched on the day by Athens 2004 bronze medallists Xavier ROHART and Pascal RAMBEAU (FRA), who finished first and fifth.

John DANE and Austin SPERRY had the biggest comeback for the day in race 2 - won by Marc PICKEL and Ingo BORKOWSKI (GER) - when they went from ninth to third on the first run and picked up one more boat on the next windward leg.

Afonso DOMINGOS and Bernardo SANTOS (POR) are second overall and Hamish PEPPER and Carl WILLIAMS (NZL) third after three races.

Fredrik LOOF and Anders EKSTROM (SWE) were swept off the leaderboard after a fourth and 15th to be seventh overall. DANE is the oldest member of the US Olympic team and the oldest sailor competing in Qingdao.

After trying to make the USA Olympic Sailing team for the past 40 years, DANE is sure this is his first and final Olympic Sailing Competition.

"You could lose 100 yards in three minutes," he said of the racing. "On the last beat of the second race it looked like we were 1, 2 with the Germans, but Hamish [PEPPER] and PERCY [Iain PERCY (GBR)] got a shift and beat us to the mark. It is never over out there and that's a good thing."

Sunday's forecast is for 17 to 19 knots of wind, conditions not yet seen during the 2008 Olympic Sailing Competition.

Overall Results - click here