British sailors bounced back amid testing conditions at the French leg of the ISAF Sailing World Cup in Hyeres yesterday, securing 12 boats from seven classes into Friday’s final medal races.

Olympic champion Paul Goodison continues to top the Laser fleet’s leaderboard, while other GBR sailors go into the Medal day in podium places – Helena Lucas (2.4mR), Bryony Shaw (RSX), Nick Dempsey (RSX) and Ed Wright in the Finn.

It proved a tough day for 31-year-old Goodison, with races punctuated by both large windshifts, and race recalls with sailors over-eager at the startline. Conditions were their most testing on the Laser course, and in the two races Goodison picked up a discardable 19th and a 14th to retain the overall lead.

Nick Thompson joins Goodison in the medal race for Skandia Team GBR. He’s in equal sixth place on points but still within grasp of podium spots.

A solid day for Ed Wright in the heavyweight Finn fleet sees him back into the medal positions heading into the ten-boat final Friday. He scored 3, 4 from his two races on Thursday to see him into third overall, but with his rivals – including teammate Giles Scott – lurking close behind him on points.

“It would be nice to walk away with a medal,” explained 31-year-old Wright, who picked up gold at the Miami World Cup event, and silver in Palma a fortnight ago. “I’ve medalled here [in the Finn] all but one time – hopefully again tomorrow.”

Olympic bronze medallist Bryony Shaw punched her way into the podium positions for the first time this week, and just in time for the medal races in the RS:X women’s windsurfing event.

Shaw picked up a race win and two fourths yesterday to see her into the silver medal spot overall, with Nick Dempsey also poised to pick up some hardware in the men’s event where he’s currently in third.

For a full list of results and medal race competitors, click here .