Skiff (49er), Open

After 15 of 16 races, nobody had declared themselves, as six teams could still win a medal going into the final race. The leaders were the Spanish crew of Iker Martínez and Xabier Fernández, the reigning World Champions. They placed seventh in race 16, but it was good enough to bring them the gold medal. Britain’s Chris Draper and Simon Hiscocks were slight favorites, having won the 2003 World Championship, and multiple international regattas in 2003, but they dropped back to the bronze medal, beaten by the Ukrainian crew of Rodion Luka and Heorhiy Leonchuk, who would go on to win the 2005 World title. Martínez and Fernández would win a silver medal in this class at the 2008 Olympics.

Nine different boats won the 16 races, with Spain, Great Britain, the United States (5th), and Germany (9th) all winning two. Australia won four of the 16 races, but placed only seventh overall, as they had seven races at 10th place or higher, and in race 15 had an early start which disqualified them.