Ryan Seaton and Matt McGovern sailed to tenth overall in the Olympic men’s 49er sailing at the Marina da Glória in Rio, writes Will Downing.

The Irish pair qualified for the medals race by finishing their regular campaign in the top ten – but were too far down to have any chance of a medal themselves.

As it was, they finished ninth in the double-points race, to take 18th overall, as New Zealand took the gold ahead of Australia and Germany.

The Kiwis were guaranteed gold going into the medals race, so long as they finished, but Peter Burling and Blair Tuke still wanted to emphasise their dominance, and did so by winning the final race.

Julien d’Ortoli and Noe Delpech finished second on the final day for France, with Jonas Warrer and Christian Peter Lubeck third for Denmark, who finished fourth overall behind bronze-medallists Germany across the competition.

Meanwhile, the people of Brazil were glued to their TV screens watching sailing as Martine Grael and Kahena Kunze won gold in the women’s 49er FX.

Going into the medals race on 46 points, with second-placers New Zealand lying second on 47, the Brazilian pair edged the medals race to take the gold, with the Kiwis having to be content with silver.

Denmark took bronze after finishing fourth in the medal race, while the Irish pair of Saskia Tidey and Andrea Brewster finished 12th overall.