Australia has won four gold medals, in the 49er, Laser, Women’s Match and Skud 18 racing classes with a tremendous performance in the United Kingdom’s Sail for Gold Regatta from 9 to 14 August.

The regatta was the final round of the 2010 ISAF Sailing World Cup, in which Australia finished second on the overall medal tally with 12 gold, 6 silver and 5 bronze.

Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) sailor Tom Slingsby went into the Laser medal race on with a slender competition lead. Slingsby went on to win the regatta ahead of the United Kingdom’s Paul Goodison.    

‘The match race went pretty well, a few penalties went both ways and I ended up coming off the line a little better at the favoured boat end,’ Slingsby said. 

‘From then on I sort of controlled him (Goodison) and tried to put him back as far as possible, it worked well and I ended up coming away with the overall win.’

Nicky Souter, Nina Curtis and Olivia Price claimed gold in the Women’s Match Racing final, winning three out of four (best of five) races. The crew led from start to finish in race four, winning their first ever World Cup event gold. 

Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen took out the 49er class to see the pair claim an eighth win from nine regattas since teaming up in 2009. 

AIS Paralympic athletes Daniel Fitzgibbon and Rachael Cox secured gold in the Skud 18 class, winning seven out of 10 races.

AIS athletes also performed strongly in other racing classes, with Mathew Belcher and Malcolm Page claiming silver in the Men’s 470 class.

The venue for the Sail for Gold Regatta, the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy, will also be the host for the sailing events during the London 2012 Olympic Games.