Britain's success in the Olympic sailing events continued today with a silver medal for Nick Rogers and Joe Glanfield in the 470 class.

The pair matched their silver at the Athens Games despite a poor start in the final race at the regatta in Qingdao.

They needed to finish ahead of the French and Dutch crews and their quest began badly as they dropped into ninth place on the first leg. But after a dramatic fightback they clinched third place and with it a silver medal in the overall competition.

Glanfield said: "We made a bit of a mistake at the beginning. Probably every other boat that had a chance of a medal wanted to attack us but we had a good run then got where we needed to be, and did a great job holding down on the run.

"The difference here [to Athens] is that at one point Nick and I thought we'd lost it. But for the last three races to be so good, we're really pleased to have turned it around."

Rogers added: "In Athens we were going in with a chance of gold and didn't get it but here we really clawed back to get a medal."

They entered the medal race in fourth place in the overall standings, needing to finish at least two spots in front of France or three in front of the Netherlands to secure a place on the podium. The pair were in ninth place at the first mark, 49 seconds behind leaders Australia, but pulled back considerable ground on the second leg and made the turn in sixth place.

They improved their position on the run back to the windward mark, crossing in fourth place, two spots in front of the French to put themselves on the silver trail.

And Rogers and Glanfield improved their position to third at the finish line, six seconds behind the gold medal-winning Australian boat, with France finishing sixth and the Dutch coming home in seventh.

The French and Dutch were tied on 78 points but France took the bronze by virtue of their better finish in the medal race.

Today's action follows a successful weekend for Britain's sailors in Qingdao with golds for the Yngling trio of Sarah Ayton, Sarah Webb and Pippa Wilson and in the Finn Class for Ben Ainslie, his third Olympic gold.

He clinched the title - and was confirmed as the world's best dinghy sailor - by holding off nearest challenger, Zach Railey, of the United States, in a race that was postponed by 24 hours due to lack of wind. Meanwhile, Ayton, Webb and Wilson - the "three blondes in a boat" - claimed gold by beating the Dutch trio of Mandy Mulder, Annemeike Bes and Merel Witteveen.