Sailing: Burling, Tuke off the pace at champs

Olympic silver medallists Peter Burling and Blair Tuke made a sluggish start to the European 49er sailing championship in Denmark to sit well down the field after the first day of racing.

The pair are sailing their first competitive 49er skiff regatta since last year's Olympics and were 18th and ninth in their two races on yesterday to be in a share of 35th in the 91-strong fleet. They need to improve to be inside the top 31 by the end of the second day to progress to the gold fleet.

Marcus Hansen and Josh Porebski were just outside the cutoff in 32nd with young combination Ben Goodwin and Sam Bullock the best of the Kiwis in 13th overall after a sixth and eighth in their two races sailed in challenging conditions at Aarhus.

Promising duo Alex Maloney and Molly Meech were well placed in the women's 49erFX championships and were third overall in the 37-strong fleet after a 10th, ninth and sixth from their three races.

The pair are the world's No 1-ranked combination in the class.

Boardsailor Natalia Kosinska was second after the opening day of the women's RS:X European Championships in France. She finished third, fifth and seventh in the three races sailed.

Both regattas go for another five days.

NZ results from the 49er European Championships:

Men's 49er: 13th - Ben Goodwin and Sam Bullock (6, 8), 32nd - Marcus Hansen and Josh Porebski (4, 22), 35th - Peter Burling and Blair Tuke (18, 9).

Women's 49erFX: 3rd - Alexandra Maloney and Molly Meech (10, 9, 6)

New Zealand results from the RS:X European Championships

Women: 2nd - Natalia Kosinska (3, 5, 7)

Women youth: 24th - Xanthe Bowater

Men's youth: 35th - Alexander Hart APNZ