Hannah Hoping For Wind Of Change

Hannah Mills hopes to feel the wind beneath her wings on Thursday in order to breeze up and collect her gold medal.

The Welsh sailor and crew Saksia Clark have faced another frustrating wait to finally get hold of their Olympic prizes in Rio.

The British duo should have been able to wrap up victory in the women’s 470 class on Wednesday afternoon but the lack of wind caused the medal race to be postponed.

Mills and Clark were kept waiting on the water for more than three hours as officials waited in vain for the breeze to get above four or five knots.

It was only at 4.30pm local time that the race, which had been scheduled for 1.05pm, was called off for the day.

‘We are in limbo,’ said Mills, 28. ‘We can’t wait for it to be completed. We have had a marathon week. Conditions have been wacky, up and down, and to have no wind today is tough.’

The British pair are in line to win the team’s second sailing gold, following Giles Scott in the Finn, having opened up a nearly insurmountable lead over their nearest pursuers, Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie, the reigning champions from New Zealand.

Even with double scoring for the medal race, Mills and Clark must only finish without disqualification to be sure of the win. They have 28 points.

Aleh and Powrie have 48 points, but even if they win the medal race, which is contested by the top 10, they will get two points, meaning Mills and Clark can come last and still take gold.

Should they complete the job it will take Team GB’s sailing total to three medals after Mills’ boyfriend, windsurfer Nick Dempsey, took silver in the RS:X, and give the team every chance of heading the standings at Guanabara Bay.

Clark, 36, added: ‘We were looking forward to getting a good night’s sleep tonight but we will have to go through the process again and get a good sleep for tomorrow.’

Mills and Clark have been very consistent throughout the regatta, having won three races and come in the top eight in all 10, as they look to go one better than their silver medal at London 2012.