By Alexander Smith
MARSEILLE, France (Reuters) -Marit Bouwmeester of the Netherlands effectively secured gold in the women's dinghy on Monday and is set to be crowned as the most successful woman in Olympic sailing after building an unassailable lead ahead of the medal race.
The Dutch sailor stood on her white-hulled dinghy, both arms aloft, to celebrate her victory after race officials confirmed the final race of the day would not take place, handing Bouwmeester victory as the sailor with the lowest overall score.
Bouwmeester must complete the medal race on Tuesday to be confirmed as champion and become the most successful woman in Olympic sailing with two golds, a silver and a bronze, overhauling Briton Hannah Mills who has two golds and a silver.
Bouwmeester won gold in 2016, a silver in 2012 and bronze in Tokyo.
This time she has her two-year-old daughter with her, which means that she has been staying away from the rest of the Dutch sailors, who have already won gold in the women's skiff and bronze in the men's windsurfing.
Denmark's Anne-Marie Rindom, her closest rival on the Mediterranean in Marseille, has effectively secured silver, adding to the gold she won in 2021.
The women dinghy sailors have had to navigate delays to their schedule, abandoned races, a day of strong winds and intense heat in the build-up to the series.
Bouwmeester said before Monday's races that she liked a challenge and was going to sail her own race.
In the event, frustrating wind shifts resulted in one painfully slow race for the 43 sailors, but the result was enough for Bouwmeester to come out top on points.
Sailing has a scoring system where the aim is to get the lowest points across the series, with one discard allowed.
When officials hoisted the flags signalling that the racing was over for Monday, after a dramatic pause, the decision handed the medal to the Dutch sailor who celebrated with her coach.
(Reporting by Alexander Smith; Editing by Bill Berkrot and Alison Williams)
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