A rollercoaster day of soaring highs – and crushing lows – in Marseille as the Paris 2024 sailing competition came to a close with Ellie Aldridge sealing gold in the women’s kite class.

For the past two years there have been two women battling it out for supremacy in the women’s kite competition – France’s Lauriane Nolot, and Britain’s Ellie Aldridge.

Nolot came into Paris 2024 as the favourite having won the 2023 and 2024 world championships, but Aldridge has timed her performance peak to perfection.

The pair went into the women’s kite final in first and second respectively, with Nolot needing only one race win to secure gold and Aldridge needing two to unseat her French rival.

What followed was a pure masterclass from Aldridge, dominating the racing right from the start gun.

A race win for Aldridge levelled the playing field – and then came the moment we’d all been waiting for as she sailed a perfect second race to cross the finish line in front, becoming the first women’s kite Olympic champion and claiming Team GB’s 50th medal of the Games.

“This event has been totally different to any event I’ve ever done,” Aldridge said. “It’s been tricky but amazing, and to perform like this on the last day is a dream.

“It’s not been an easy Olympics for the team but I’m so happy to get this gold medal for them and put a smile on the team’s face.”

This medal means Great Britain has won a gold medal in sailing at every Olympics since Lottery funding was introduced in 1997.