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Olympics, Day 11: Great Britain complete sailing double, win 6th successive Finn class gold

Dylan Fletcher (R) and Stuart Bithell of Team Great Britain celebrate as they win gold in the Men's Skiff 49er class. Photo by Phil Walter/Getty Images

Great Britain won two gold medals in the Tokyo 2020 sailing competition with Dylan Fletcher and Stuart Bithell coming first in the men's skiff, 49er class and defending champion Giles Scott claiming the finn title.

The 34-year-old Scott came fourth in his final race which was enough to defend his Rio 2016 title and mark Team GB's sixth successive Olympic title in the finn class.

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Fletcher and Bithell's win came down to centimetres and the German team pushed them to the line in the medal race.

It is the first time Team GB have won a gold medal in the 49er class.

The pair were in silver medal position going into the race and were four points adrift of New Zealand's defending champions Peter Burling and Blair Tuke. However, a strong performance and first-place finish saw them make up the points to take gold.

"It was close. I guess gold medals are often won on fine margins and so to do it there, I think it was fantastic, hopefully a good race for the fans... very stressful but amazing," Fletcher told reporters.

Later, John Gimson and Anna Burnet made it a trio of sailing medals for Team GB, winning silver in the mixed Nacra 17 class.

In the velodrome, Germany set a new world record in the women's team pursuit to take gold ahead of Team GB. Great Britain's men also took silver in the team sprint, as they lost out to the Netherlands who set a new Olympic record with a time of 41.369 seconds.

The feat brings an end to Great Britain's dominance in both events, with the women having won gold at London 2012 and Rio 2016 and the men in Beijing 2008, London and Rio.

Great Britain set two world records in women's team pursuit qualifying but Germany broke both and continued their dominance as they led from start to finish in the final, storming home in 4:04.242 to shatter their own world-record time.

Despite the defeat, the silver sees Laura Kenny move within one medal of the British women's record set by Charlotte Dujardin at these Olympics. She was one of the four who finished behind Germany, with Katie Archibald, Neah Evans and Josie Knight making up the quartet as they finished nearly six seconds behind.

"They took everyone by surprise," Kenny said, referring to the Germany team. When asked about her two remaining events, with Kenny in with a chance of overtaking Dujardin's six Olympic medals, Kenny responded: "I'll just keep turning up and see what happens!"

Meanwhile, it was the Dutch team's first-ever medal in the men's team sprint as they put in a flawless performance to see off GB's Ryan Owens, Jack Carlin and Jason Kenny.

"We poured our heart into the second ride to get to the final, and then rolled the dice in the final," Kenny said. "I had nothing in the final, I was rubbish!"

The silver medal sees Kenny take his overall Olympics medal haul to eight -- six golds and two silvers -- and he draws level with Bradley Wiggins as Britain's most decorated Olympian of all time.

"It's really special, every time you come back it gets harder," Kenny added. "To repeat it, and having to do it again and again, it gets harder."

On the track, Keely Hodgkinson took silver in the women's 800m in a stunning British record of 1:55.88, winning Team GB's first athletics medal in Tokyo.

The 19-year-old is the first British woman to claim an Olympic medal in the distance since Kelly Holmes at Athens 2004.

"That was such a good race. It was so open," Hodgkinson said. "I wanted to leave it all out there and I did that. I am so happy. I want to thank my amazing team and family.

"If the Olympics were last year, I wouldn't be here. It's definitely given me a chance to grow and compete with these girls."

Earlier, Pat McCormack won Britain's fourth silver of the day in the men's welterweight boxing final.

He was denied gold by Cuba's Roniel Iglesias, who won with a unanimous decision.

Elsewhere, Jack Laugher won bronze in the men's 3m springboard diving final, adding to his gold and silver from Rio 2016.

Laugher, 26, finished with 518.00 points, behind China's Xie Siyi and Wang Zongyuan, who won gold and silver respectively.

"This means everything to me, it's been the worst two years of my life," Laugher said. "After the 2019 World Championships and failing to make myself a world champion, embarrassing myself with my final dive and the mistakes and failure I had there, it crushed me, it really crushed me.

"I wanted to quit this year, quite a few times. It has been awful. I've hated it. But we have worked really hard.

"It might not be a gold medal but a medal around my neck today is just the sense that I'm back, I'm here and I am ready to keep going."

There was also another huge moment for Team GB in the Tokyo boxing ring when Galal Yafai guaranteed himself a medal after beating 2017 World Champion, Cuban fighter Yosbany Veitia, in the quarterfinals of the men's flyweight boxing.

Yafai, hailing from Birmingham, took the fight 4-1 after three bruising, relentless rounds. The 28-year-old set the pace early and finished with aplomb as he ended the final round by landing some huge punches.

He now heads into the semifinals where he will face either Spain's Gabriel Escobar or Kazakhstan's Skane Bibossinov.

Meanwhile, three-time gold-medal-winning member of Team GB's men's pursuit team Ed Clancy announced he has retired from the British cycling team after an injury forced him to withdraw from Tokyo 2020.

His career spanned 20 years and saw him become the most successful team pursuit rider in history, winning his first world title in 2005 aged just 20.

"I've spent just over 20 years on the Great Britain Cycling Team and I see it as my family," he said in a statement. "I have achieved more during my time than I ever could have dreamed of, it's something I will remember for the rest of my life.

"It's been a pleasure, to the extent that if I could go back in time I would do it all over again. It's a tough call, because I'm enjoying it more now than I ever have done, but the difficult choice is usually the right one and right now is the time to go."

Britain were denied a medal in the men's team pursuit final after losing to Denmark in their first heat.

Sprinter Adam Gemili also suffered a hamstring injury on Tuesday which forced him to pull out of the men's 200 metre heat.

The 27-year-old missed out on a bronze medal at Rio 2016 but wasn't given the opportunity to go one further after he pulled up with the injury.

"The last run, literally the last run before I came into the call room, the last blocks start and I felt it go," he said in a statement after.

"It's my hamstring. I had to try but I'm in so much pain right now -- I said to my physio, just strap it up and let me at least try to push out but I can tell straight away.

"You don't just cramp up when you sprint, it was a tear. I can't believe this has happened."