Matt Wearn has extended his lead and Tom Burton has stormed back into medal contention on another day of determined sailing by the Australians at the Laser European Championships at La Rochelle in France.

Wearn had a one point advantage over New Zealand’s Sam Meech heading into Day 4 and overcame bad starts to claim an 8 and 7 from the two races, while Meech was overtaken by Cypriot World Champion Pavlos Kontides, who is now 2nd, four points behind the Australian world No.4.

Burton, able to drop two BFDs from the qualifying round, snared a 7 and a bullet to charge up from 26th to 6th and is on 41 points, 11 behind third-placed Meech.

“We had two more races in choppy waters and shifty conditions,” Australian Sailing Team Laser coach Michael Blackburn said.

“Tom started each race well and ended up with some good scores for the day. With two drops now in the scorecard, he jumped up several places.

“Wearny had some bad starts but clawed back nicely up the first beats to post some acceptable scores. He keeps the lead in what’s become a tight battle at the top. The last two races should happen tomorrow afternoon - weather permitting - it's looking like a cold, wet day with variable winds.”

Fellow Australians Mitch Kennedy and Luke Elliott are 15th and 16th, respectively, and Finn Alexander is 29th.

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