In the men's event, Australia's Mat Belcher and Will Ryan hold a 14.7 point advantage over Sime Fantela and Igor Marenic of Croatia, who can still claim gold in the unlikely event they win and the leaders finish in last place.

Greek pairing Panagotis Mantis and Pavlos Kagialis currently lie in third place and will battle it out with Croatia and Great Britain's Luke Patience and Elliott Willis for the silver and bronze medals.

Belcher sits on the verge of claiming his fifth successive 470 World Championship title and if he succeeds, it would mark an unprecedented achievement in the history of the class.

"It is a pretty big deal," said Belcher.

"This year we have sailed really well and I am a firm believer that we deserve to be where we are.

"A lot can happen in a medal race and we have seen that before where we had an even bigger points gap, that at one stage we weren't winning."

In the women's event, series leaders Lara Vadlau and Jola Ogar of Austria, Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie of New Zealand and Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark of Britain will compete for the gold medal. 

The Austrians, who are guaranteed a medal and a place in the Rio 2016 Olympics, hold a one-point advantage at the front of the leaderboard

"It feels great but our main target is in Rio," said Vadlau.

"Everything that comes now is a nice gift.

"With Jola, together we can achieve everything when we sail good.

"When we both do our jobs, this is the outcome."

Britain currently sit in third place overall and, although they have an outside chance of catching New Zealand in second, they will be keen to fend off the possible challenges of France and the United States for a bronze medal.

Croatia's Igor Marenic (left) and Sime Fantela (right) currently lie in second place in the men's 470 fleet ©Getty Images



Meanwhile in the 49erFX, defending champions Alex Maloney and Molly Meech of New Zealand have surrendered their title after an up and down regatta saw them finish just outside the medal race in 11th place.

Although they can still make the medal race, a 51-point deficit means it will be near impossible for them to retain their crown.

Fellow countrymen Peter Burling and Blair Tuke lead the way in the 49er with Australia's Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen and Denmark's Jonas Warrer and Anders Thomsen in second and third place respectively.

Britain's Giles Scott holds a 20-point lead in the Finn fleet after having the best day on the water with a third and fourth, while Ivan Kljakovic Gaspic of Croatia and Jonathan Lobert of France make up the top three.

"I got a third and fourth which I am actually pretty happy with because that was really difficult sailing," said Scott.

"There were big leftys and big rightys and they were long as well so you could easily get stuck on the wrong side.

"So I am pretty happy to come away unscathed."

After nine races in the Nacra 17 gold fleet on the Spanish coast, the French duo of Billy Besson and Marie Riou are leading overall with Argentina's Santiago Lange and Cecilia Carranza Saroli in second place and Britain's Pippa Wilson and John Grimson in third.