Molly Meech and Kerikeri's Alex Maloney will leave Porto "pretty happy" after claiming bronze at the 49erFX World Championships but already have their sights on climbing a couple more steps of the podium next year.
The Olympic silver medallists started the day in second, five points behind eventual winners Jena Hansen and Katja Iversen, but couldn't keep pace with the Danish pair and made a couple of mistakes which allowed Olympic champions Martine Grael and Kahena Kunze of Brazil to jump ahead of them.
It was still an excellent result for Maloney and Meech and one that will give them plenty of confidence in the early stages of their 2020 Tokyo Olympics campaign.
They had a terrific start to the regatta, winning four races in qualifying to take an early lead, but they found the conditions more challenging in the final two days as strong winds and large swells hit the coast off Porto.
"We're pretty happy to come away with a bronze," Meech said. "We came in hoping to be on the top of the podium and sailed really well in qualifying but made a few mistakes in gold fleet.