Sydneysider Grae Morris has surged into the lead of the men's windsurfing at the Olympic sailing regatta following a spectacular day in which he earned a race win and two second places.
The 20-year-old son of former national windsurfing champ Brett Morris was in fifth position overnight but in the stiflingly hot conditions on Wednesday, he moved a point clear of Poland's Pawel Tarnowski.
"It was a day about being accurate so that was going through my head on repeat," said Morris.
"I was able to stay a lot more cool, calm and collected. Looking around, it looks like the fleet's very amped up and people are getting a bit frustrated so just being on the other end of that, I think gave me the step ahead."
Morris now faces another day of qualifying races before the medal race series, with the top-ranked qualifying performer given the advantage of going straight to the final.
If he finishes second or third, he would qualify for the semi-finals while a fourth to 10th place finish would put him in the quarters.
"I'm super happy but I've just got to keep in mind what's to come. There's plenty of races and plenty of opportunity for anything to happen. It's not finished," he said.
The women's skiff duo of Olivia Price and Evie Haseldine can't now medal even though they squeezed into the medal race as ninth-placed qualifiers.
They're 28 points behind the Swedish team lying third and out of the podium hunt.
In the men's skiff, Jim Colley and Shaun Connor finished their debut Olympics in 15th place.
