Goodison wins another gold for Britain

Britain improved on an already impressive medal haul by when Paul Goodison won their 13th gold medal of the Beijing Games this…

Britain improved on an already impressive medal haul by when Paul Goodison won their 13th gold medal of the Beijing Games this morning, claiming sailing's Laser title.

The 30-year-old became the third British winner of the sailing regatta at Qingdao, thwarting the hopes of Swede Rasmus Myrgren - the only man who could have denied him gold in the medal race.

Myrgren had to win and hope Goodison finished last of the 10 boats to reverse their positions, but the British sailor left nothing to chance and consolidated Britain's place of third on the medals table behind the US and China.

He became embroiled in a 'match race' with his rival in the early stages, forcing Mrygren to the back of the field by sticking to him like glue as the starting hooter sounded.

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Goodison, who agonisingly finished fourth in Athens four years ago, was happy to see the rest of the fleet head off into the distance - that was good enough for him and his gold medal hopes.

British track and field duo Jade Johnson and Goldie Sayers both qualified for their respective finals at the Bird's Nest this morning.

Johnson left it late to qualify in the long jump but leapt out to 6.61m with her third and final attempt to finish inside the top 12.

She was way down the standings after jumps 6.33m and 6.15m and despite doing just enough, the 28-year-old was not happy with herself.

"Maybe tomorrow I might be happy. I'm in the final but right now I'm still a bit mad with myself,'' she said. "I always make hard work of it. When have I ever had an easy ride? Never. Once I just accept that I'm never going to have an easy ride I'll be fine."

In contrast, Sayers qualified comfortably. She needed just two throws to book her place in the javelin final, sending the spear out to 62.99m in round two - well clear of the 61.50m automatic qualifying mark.

She was the fifth best qualifier for Thursday night's final. Czech Barbora Spotakova led the way with 67.69m.