MARSEILLE, France, July 30 (Xinhua) -- Strong winds whipped up a frenetic day of racing at Marseille Marina on Tuesday, as Emma Wilson of Britain bolstered her dominance in women's windsurfing (iQFoil). The Netherlands' favorites Odile van Aanholt and Annette Duetz climbed to the top in the women's skiff (49erFX).
While on Monday the British surfer had to deal with light winds, Wilson proved more than capable of adapting to Tuesday's windier conditions as she picked up three valuable wins. Reigning iQFOiL world champion Sharon Kantor also managed the unpredictable conditions well, moving to second overall with two race wins. China's Yan Zheng stood in seventh spot.
"I felt good. It was better than yesterday, I was just trying to find my level and continue. Today was hard to find the focus, but if you found it you were in front and I managed to do that," Kantor said.
Five races were completed in men's windsurfing as well. The Netherlands also underlined their class in another category, as Luuc van Opzeeland bounced back from disqualification in the first race on Monday to win two races and hold a narrow advantage over Pawel Tarnowski of Poland. Huang Jingye of China placed 20th overall after six races.
France's duo of Sarah Steyaert and Charline Picon endured a difficult day to lose their No. 1 spot in the women's skiff (49erFX), falling to second overall. Isaac McHardie and William McKenzie of New Zealand suffered the same fate, dropping from leaders in the men's skiff (49er) to third overall, with Diego Botin and Florian Trittel of Spain now at the top with just three races to go to decide the top 10 in the medal race.
China's duo Hu Xiaoyu and Shan Mengyuan placed 20th overall in women's skiff, while their compatriots Wen Zaiding and Liu Tian stood 13th in the men's competition.
"It was a mindset change - from this is all about execution towards OK, it's more eyes out of the boat. Keep puzzling, it's still a chessboard out there, and that helped us a lot in the second and third race," Van Aanholt said after bouncing back to top the standings after nine of 12 races in women's skiff.
