Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark made to wait for golden lap as lack of wind postpones 470 medal races

Team GB sailors Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark will have to wait a little longer to rubber stamp their impressive Olympic triumph at Rio 2016. The 470 pair, who lead New Zealand rivals Jo Aleh and Olivia Powrie by 20 points in the overall standings after 10 events, only have to finish the final medal race to secure a deserved gold.

However, they were unable to complete their golden lap on Thursday as the sailing regatta was persistently delayed and eventually postponed until tomorrow morning due to a lack of wind. The men's race, which features sixth-place Britons Luke Patience and Chris Grube, was due to take place later in the afternoon and has also been pushed back.

Endorsing the decision to reschedule, a relaxed Patience said: "As a team in a challenging venue we're so kitted out and ready for long delays and comfortable in our athlete containers so it's a very easy day watching the Olympic Games on the TV, having a snooze and eating well. It's the nature of our sport. It was definitely the right decision to cancel the racing today."

Britain have already secured one sailing gold in Rio, with Giles Scott following in the footsteps of former rival and Land Rover BAR teammate Sir Ben Ainslie by wrapping up a dominant win in the men's finn yesterday. GB have now won that event at five successive Olympic Games. Windsurfer Nick Dempsey also claimed a historic third medal with silver behind Dorian van Rijsselberghe in the men's RS:X class on Monday.

Dylan Fletcher and Alain Sign could still achieve a podium place in the 49er skiff class ahead of tomorrow's medal race. Like Patience and Grube, however, female counterparts Charlotte Dobson and Sophie Ainsworth are already out of medal contention.