The gold medals were essentially formalities Wednesday on the last day of sailing competition of the Tokyo Olympics, but the other medals were in doubt up until the very end.
Australia's Mat Belcher and Will Ryan needed to do little more than make it safely around the course in the men's 470 medal race but went out and won it anyway for an emphatic finish. Sweden's Anton Dahlberg and Fredrik Bergstrom took second to clinch silver, and Spain's Jordi Xammar and Nicolas Javier Rodriguez did just enough to take bronze with a fifth-place finish. (FULL RESULTS)
Belcher earned his third medal in the event, taking gold in 2012 and silver in 2016. Ryan sailed with him in Rio.
The women's 470 ended with a touch of controversy. Great Britain's Hannah Mills and Eildih McIntyre had the gold medal in hand before the medal race and finished fifth Wednesday. Poland's Agnieszka Skrzypulec and Jolanta Ogar slipped past the British boat to take fourth and move up to silver, prompting some complaints from the French crew of Camille Lecointre and Aloise Retornaz, who finished sixth to take bronze but would have had silver if Mills and McIntyre had stayed ahead of the Polish boat. France filed a protest against Great Britain after the race. (FULL RESULTS)
Like Belcher, Mills now has two gold medals and a silver, having won gold in Rio. McIntyre was making her Olympic debut.
Great Britain took five medals, three gold, in the 10 sailing events. Australia took three, all gold.
