HELENSBURGH sailor Lorenzo Chiavarini won bronze in the laser class at the Sailing World Cup in Miami on Sunday.

The former Lomond School pupil captured the first British medal of the final day, leapfrogging compatriot and two-time World Champion Nick Thompson to the podium’s third step.

Thompson had started the day in the bronze medal position, but as the only sailor who could realistically challenge Cypriot Pavlos Kontides for silver, a match race ensued as Kontides looked to protect his position and the British Rio representative was squeezed to the back of the fleet.

Chiavarini sailed to fifth place, edging Thompson, who finished ninth in the medal race, out of the podium spots by just one point. He said: “It was a pretty challenging event – shifty all the time. To have average scores and come third was fantastic.

“It was a high scoring event, but my downwind speed always took me back to where I needed to be and kept me in contention.”

“The medal race was quite a challenging one,” added the 23-year-old. “I got myself to third and then had a small error, not knowing there had been a change of course.

“I thought it was all over, but again my downwind speed got me the places I needed at the very end to get the last point on Nick. To come home with a medal is a pretty fantastic feeling.”

Britain’s sailors ended their first World Cup regatta of the 2020 cycle with a six-medal haul. Gold for Dylan Fletcher-Stuart Bithell (49er) and a British 1-2 in the Nacra 17 event from Ben Saxton-Nicola Groves and Tom Phipps-Nikki Boniface on Saturday were topped up with two silvers and a bronze from Sunday’s racing.