British Ben Ainslie extended his Finn lead on Friday with a 12-point margin to prepare him well for the top podium in the medal race slated on Saturday.

The defending Finn Champaign Ainslie clung to the series lead after eight races with 21 points after the discard. Zach Railey from the United States took the 2nd overall, though finishing 19th in the last race.

"Tomorrow is going to be a two-horse race between Zach and I, so I'm going to stick to him like glue," said Ainslie, adding he would "stay calm and stay healthy" to prepare for the day.

His teammates Sarah Ayton, Sarah Webb and Pippa Wilson of Yngling class also consolidated the promising future for Britain in Yngling medal race on Saturday, taking the lead overall by 22 points after finishing 5th today.

"We will have a technical preparation tonight and bring the best of us tomorrow," said Sarah Webb.

Meanwhile, China's Yin Jian seemed unstoppable. She led the 27-strong fleet of RS:X Women on the third day by six points after the discard. Chan King Yin from Hong Kong China and Wang Aichen from China took the 2nd and sixth of RS:X Men overall respectively.

After four races of Laser, Paul Goodison from Britain moved from 7th to share the lead with Rasmus Myrgren from Sweden, who sailed from 5th to top. In Laser Radial, Anna Tunnicliffe still took the lead by 20 points and China's Xu Lijia moved from 11th to 7th.

"At the beginning, I didn't have any advantage. I didn't do well in the upwind. The currents and tides were very good, otherwise I would be out of the top ten," said the 20-year-old Xu.

Australian fleets' consistence performance gained them both leads in 470 Women and Men. Elise Rechichi and Tessa Parkinson topped 470 Women after eight races while Nathan Wilmot and Malcolm Page led the 470 men's fleet after seven races.

The opening race of Star witnessed Swedish pair Fredrik Loof and Anders Ekstrom ranked 1st followed by Marc Pickel and Ingo Borkowski from Germany.

World No. 2 Spanish Fermando Echavarri and Anton Paz proved their potential to lead the 15-boat Tornado fleet in the opening race. Iordanis Paschalidis and Konstantinos Trigonis from Greece took the 2nd. China's Luo Youjia and Chen Xiuke finished 9th.

"We placed first today. If we were second, third, or fourth, it wouldn't matter. Our aim is to win and not have a bad regatta. Today the wind was very difficult, and if the conditions continue, we will suffer a lot," said Echavarri.

The lack of wind on Friday forced two more races of Yngling and Finn, one more race for 470 Men, RS:X Women and Men, Tornado and Star, Laser and Laser Radial to cancel.

(Xinhua News Agency August 15, 2008)