Isaac McHardie and Will McKenzie are saving their best for last by taking out the 49er medal race in commanding fashion overnight - for a first race win at the Sailing World Championships in The Hague.

The young pair led from start to finish in light conditions to claim victory by more than 20 seconds, with the result lifting them from sixth to fourth in the final standings – only 7.2 points behind Spain’s Diego Botin and Florian Trittel.

While it wasn’t enough for New Zealand’s first medal of the week, Isaac and Will did ensure that the country will be represented in the class at next year’s Olympic Games.

"Qualifying New Zealand for the Olympics was one of our goals along the way and to achieve that is pretty cool,” says Isaac.

Their next objective is to earn selection for the sole 49er spot in Paris, with training partners Logan Dunning Beck and Oscar Gunn sure to mount a strong challenge.

“Next up is to try and qualify ourselves, so it’s heads down and working hard. We've come away from this event with a lot to work on and we are looking forward to the next few months leading into the Europeans.”

Fading winds meant all other racing was either postponed or abandoned - including the 49erFX medal race featuring Jo Aleh and Molly Meech.

By advancing to the 10-crew finale in sixth overall, Jo and Molly did, however, lock in an entry in the women's skiff class at the Games.

Sweden’s Vilma Bobeck and Rebecca Netzler won the gold medal by a mammoth 36 points from local sailors Odile van Aanholt and Annette Duetz, but Jo and Molly showed impressive progress with their best performance of the season - in only their second campaign together.

“They [Bobeck and Netzler] sailed amazingly well but it just motivates us to work even harder,” says Molly.

“We have a lot to work on in the next 11 months but it’s really nice to tick off Olympic qualification for New Zealand. Now it’s about us making some gains.”

Day 8 was somewhat bittersweet for the Kiwi windfoiling contingent, with Josh Armit denied the opportunity to improve on his eighth place on the leaderboard and Veerle ten Have missing out on a final push for the medal series.

Both sailors also managed to secure Olympic qualification by finishing among the top 11 nations.

Josh will be one of seven sailors battling it out in tomorrow’s quarterfinal race, with the top two advancing to the semifinal and, potentially, the three-board final.

“It’s mission achieved by getting both country spots in the men’s and women’s events and, as we know with the format in our class, Josh can still get among the medals,” says windfoil coach Nathan Handley.

Meanwhile, George Gautrey and Tom Saunders will complete the last two races in the ILCA 7 (Laser) gold fleet tonight (NZ time).

George (third on 56 points) is firmly in podium contention and will be hoping to close the gap on leaders Matt Wearn (35 points) and Michael Beckett (24) ahead of tomorrow night’s double-points medal showdown.

Results and standings from day 8 at the 2023 Sailing World Championships in The Hague.

49er (83 boats)    
1st: Bart Lambriex/Floris Van De Werken (Ned) 1 4 5 2 1 1 3 5 2 10 (13) 6 1 1 3 18 - 63 points
2nd: Sebastien Schneiter/Arno De Planta (Sui) 3 4 3 9 7 5 2 1 6 (25) 9 4 12 5 5 16 - 91 pts
3rd: Diego Botin/Florian Trittel (Esp) 1 1 5 3 8RDG 2.8RDG 1 1 2 8 12 7 4 (26BFD) 16 20 - 91.8 pts
4th: Isaac McHardie/Will McKenzie (NZ) 2 (15) 8 7 2 6 6 6 4 2 7 10 (26RET) 9 13 2 - 99 pts
23rd: Logan Dunning Beck/Oscar Gunn (NZ) 2 (29UFD) 12 10 2 1 4 17 3 20 14 20 14 19 22 - 160 pts
41st: Campbell Stanton/William Shapland (NZ) 16 5 (26) 16 10 20 22 14 13 18 2 14 13 16 14 - 193 pts
81st: Sam Bacon/Cailen Rochford (NZ) 12 29UFD 18 16 15 7 29DNC 29DNC 29DNC (30DNC) 30DNC 30 DNC 30DNC 30DNC - 304 pts

49erFX (59 boats)
1st: Vilma Bobeck/Rebecca Netzler (Swe) 2 3 1 1 1 1 1 3 1 2 3 19 (26BFD) 1 9 - 48 pts
2nd: Odile Van Aanholt/Annette Duetz (Ned) 3 10 7 1 10 (30DSQ) 1 1 8 7 11 9 2 2 12 - 84 pts
3rd: Olivia Price/Evie Haseldine (Aus) 1 4 2 3 2 5 3 10 9 3 12 (23) 4 10 20 - 88 pts
6th: Jo Aleh/Molly Meech (NZ) 4 7 3 13 5 2 12 1 10 15 10 11 6 (18) 7 - 106 pts
49th: Courtney Reynolds-Smith/Brianna Reynolds-Smith (NZ) 21 14 25 24 23 22 23 28 22 23 24 19 25 (30) - 293 pts

Nacra 17 mixed (49 boats)
1st: Ruggero Tita/Caterina Banti (Ita) 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 9 (12) 5 1 1 3 2 - 31 pts
2nd: John Gimson/Anna Burnet (GBR) 3 2 2 3 3 1 3 5 5 1 (20) 4 3 6 4 12 - 57 pts
3rd: Emil Jarudd/Hanna Jonsson (Swe) 2 7 3 4 6 4 6 1 (17) 2 7 1 7 5 7 4 - 66 pts
8th: Micah Wilkinson/Erica Dawson (NZ) 5 (26UFD) 7 3 2 5 3 4 4 7 6 11 8 10 2 16 - 93 pts

470 mixed (64 boats)
1st: Keiju Okada/Miho Yoshioka (Jpn) 1 4 1 6 3 2 5 1 (24) 3 14 10 - 50 pts
2nd: Jordi Xammar Hernandez/Nora Brugman Cabot (Esp) 7 13 4 4 15 5 (20) 4 3 8 15 8 - 86 pts
3rd: Tetsuya Isozaki/Yurie Seki (Jpn) 6 8 12 1 2 11 6 13 14 (21) 12 6 - 91 pts
53rd: Derek Scott/Rebecca Hume (NZ) 27 28 27 21 23 17 7 6 (32UFD) 14 22 - 192 pts
57th: Brittany Wornall/Sam Street (NZ) 29 24 12 19 26 (32UFD) 32RET 30 22 7 24 - 225 pts
60th: Annabelle Rennie-Younger/Blake McGlashan (NZ) 26 32 (33RET) 25 24 12 24 31 15 13 27 - 229 pts

ILCA 7 (138 boats)
1st:  Michael Beckett (GBR) 3 1 3 2 (70BFD) 2 5 8 - 24 pts
2nd: Matt Wearn (Aus) (11) 11 6 5 1 3 2 7 - 35 pts
3rd: George Gautrey (NZ) 15 16 3 4 16 1 1 (26) - 56 pts
10th: Tom Saunders (NZ) 10 13 21 3 17 30 7 (34) - 101 pts
89th: Luke Deegan (NZ) 43 23 (50) 30 7 34 25 45 - 207 pts
108th: Caleb Armit (NZ) 39 (56) 51 22 36STP 35 43 37 - 263 pts

ILCA 6 (109 boats)
1st: Emma Plasschaert (Bel) 7 11 (30) 2 2 3 15 2 - 42 pts
2nd: Maria Erdi (Hun) 5 1 3 7 17 4 (22) 6 - 43 pts
3rd: Maud Jayet (Sui) 21 15 (43) 1 1 2 2 7 - 49 pts
70th: Olivia Christie (NZ) 19 43 17 (55) 14 29 22 10 - 154 pts
74th: Greta Pilkington (NZ) 23 (45) 30 14 22 36 32 11 - 168 pts

Men's windfoil (93 boards)
1st:  Nicolo Renna (Ita) (15) 3 3 5 (9) 5 1 1 1 1 (11) 4 3 1 - 28 pts
2nd: Sebastian Kordel (Ger) 9.3RDG 3 1 1 4 (31) (27) 1 1 3 6 3 (19) 7 - 39.3 pts
3rd: Luuc Van Opzeeland (Ned) 1 5 1 3 (6) 1 3 (21) 5 2 (12) 6 9 4 - 40 pts
8th: Josh Armit (NZ) 7 (19) 9 (31) 6 9 7 3 3 16 (17) 2 17 10 - 89 pts
34th: Eli Liefting (NZ) (51BFD) 11 (27) 15 17 19 21 9 13 27 (38) 23 27 30 - 212 pts
35th: Thomas Crook (NZ) 15 9 21 (51BFD) 18 22.7RDG (35) 17 11 28 (45) 39 12 20 - 212.7 pts
59th: Patrick Haybittle (NZ) (51BFD) 15 (39) 33 31 39 31 23 23 3 1 5 6 (21) - 210 pts

Women's windfoil (88 boards)
1st: Emma Wilson (GBR) 4 3 2 1 2 (7) (7) 1 3 (10) 1 1 3 6 - 27 pts
2nd: Shahar Tibi (Isr) 3 (10) 1 8 5 3 (11) 1 1 (15) 4 5 6 1 - 38 pts
3rd: Katy Spychakov (Isr) 5 2 5 3 (19) 5 (47BFD) 1 7 (28) 7 2 1 2 - 40 pts
22nd: Veerle ten Have (NZ) (25) 18 10 17 8 9 (47BFD) 9 11 21 13 4 26 (37) - 146 pts
66th: Aimee Bright (NZ) 25 25 22 (38) 16 29 15 (39) 33 (36) 22 34 29 14 - 264 pts
82nd: Stella Bilger (NZ) 30 (40) 36 33 (39) 39 33 35 37 (39) 38 24 35 36 - 376 pts

Men's kitefoil (84 boards)
1st: Toni Vodisek (Slo) 1 1 1 3 (4) 1 1 2 1 2 1 1 (11) 4 (17) 3 - 22 pts
2nd: Maximilian Maeder (SGP) 1 1 1 2 2 1 1 1 2 4 (8) 2 (9) 3 (7) 2 - 23 pts
3rd: Riccardo Pianosi (Ita) 1 4 2 1 (5) 4 4 3 5 3 3 (7) 7 (12) 5 1 - 43 pts
28th: Lukas Walton-Keim (NZ) 9 5 7 (15) 4 10 12 10 (29DNF) (13) 13 11 6 10 2 - 99 pts

Women's kitefoil (53 boards)
1st: Lauriane Nolot (Fra) (7) 1 1 2 (28DNC) 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 (4) 4 1 1 - 18 pts
2nd: Eleanor Aldridge (GBR) (13) (28DNF) 2 2 2 1 2 1 1 2 1 3 2 2 3 (7) - 24 pts
3rd: Lily Young (GBR) (28DNF) 2 2 1 2 (28DSQ) 2 3 (28UFD) 6 2 4 9 9 5 2 - 49 pts
24th: Justina Kitchen (NZ) 4 11 (28RET) 10 8 14 8 9 (17) 7 9 11 20 (21) 20 21 - 152 pts

For full results and updates from the 2023 Sailing World Championships, click here.