Olympic champion Matt Wearn has stamped his authority on the Paris Games test event in Marseille, storming to the lead in the ILCA 7 class.
With the wind picking up the West Australian, who won gold in Tokyo, relished the conditions and finished the day with a race win to take the overall front-running.
The ILCA 7 class have two more races to complete before the top ten shootout in the vital, double-points Medal Race on Saturday.
The spearhead of the 13-strong Australian team competing in the test event, Wearn felt confident heading into the final races.
"It's always important to come out strongly post rest day, so I am happy to have done that," he said.
"There were great conditions with a bit of breeze and sea state, so I am looking to finishing the series off strongly."
The Mixed Nacra 17 and Men's 49er skiff teams had a scheduled rest day on Thursday while Australia's kite surfers have finished up with Breiana Whitehead missing the top 10 finals group by just one place.
Olivia Price, Olympic silver medallist in the women's keelboat back in 2012, and Evie Haseldine on the 49erFX skiff have performed strongly to sit in seventh place overall.
Perth pair Nia Jerwood and Conor Nicholas are holding down fifth spot in the Mixed 470 dinghy after a string of solid results and are set for Saturday's medal racing.
Sydney windsurfer Grae Morris has climbed to third after his first open international race win, with roughly half of the fleet racing to go.
