Tauranga sailor Peter Burling and Blair Tuke are once again the European champions in the 49er class after taking out the Olympic men's skiff in commanding fashion in Helsinki.

The duo took gold, retaining their 2013 title at the 2014 European Championships in what is described as 'commanding fashion.

Burling and Tuke in action today by Mick Anderson, www.sailingpix.dk

Fellow sailors in the 49erFX Alexandra Maloney and Molly Meech claimed bronze - also repeating their 2013 performance.

Meanwhile in Athens the 2014 Men's and Women's 470 European Championships progresses towards the business end; Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie are lying 3rdwith two days of racing remaining.

Burling and Tuke hit their stride on day two of the six day regatta the Kiwi duo winning 10 of the 16 races sailed in Helsinki ending with a massive 22 point margin over anyone else in the fleet.

'It was another great day for us today, finishing with a 1, 3, 1 in the three theatre style races,” says Tuke.

'It is an awesome way to finish off what has been a really solid week for us here in Helsinki.”

'We came out with intent this afternoon, wanting to wrap it up as quickly as possible- doing that after race two. After a few quick congrats we got back into it and won the last race to top it off!”

Germany's Erik Heil and Thomas Ploessel came away with the silver medal and Great Brtiain's Dylan Fletcher and Alain Sign the bronze. Australia's Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen faltered on the final day with a messy capsize in the first race and getting pushed off the podium to finish 4th by the narrowest of margins.

Maloney and Meech faced more of a challenge to hold their overnight lead for the 2014 49erFX title with the classy Brazilians and Danes in striking distance.

The Kiwis finished with a 3, 9, 6 in their three quick-fire races today returning them the bronze medal. Sharing the same 60 points total with the Brazilians, Maloney and Meech only just missed the silver medal on count-back.

Ida Neilsen and Marie Olsen (DEN) defended their European title with an excellent final day, and Martine Grael and Kahena Kunze (BRA) snuck through for the silver medal.

2014 49er and 49erFX European Championships, Helsinki, Finland What: Olympic skiff classes (Men's and Women's) New Zealand's Final results 49er: (83 boats) Gold Medal Peter Burling and Blair Tuke 30^th (2^nd Silver fleet) Marcus Hansen and Josh Porebski 53^rd (25^th Silver fleet) Logan Dunning-Beck and Jack Simpson 55^th (27^th Silver fleet) Ben Goodwin and Sam Bullock 49erFX: (51 boats) Bronze medal Alexandra Maloney and Molly Meech 28^th Erica Dawson and Ellie Copeland NZL Sailing Team Coaches: Jez Fanstone and Hamish Willcox

Men's and Women's 470

Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie have closed the gap on the leading crews at the 2014 470 European Championships on now in Athens retaining 3^rd place overall.

Sailing two races they collected two ‘keepers' with a 2nd and 4th on the water today narrowing the gap to 1^st place down to six points.

'We had an extremely long day on the water today,” says Jo Aleh.

'It was over four hours on the water before we actually got a start away.”

'Two solid races, a 2nd and a 4th, mostly well sailed by us with a few mistakes as always but much better than yesterday! It was going on six hours and forty minutes by the time we hit the shore so it was straight to dinner, debrief and now at 9.30pm can't wait to hop in the shower and de-salt.”

'Similar forecast for tomorrow, we are first start at midday, so looking forward to going hard again.”

Paul Snow-Hansen and Daniel Willcox have climbed to 23^rd after an 8^th and a 23^rd in today's two races.

2014 Men's and Women's 470 European Championships, Athens, Greece What: Olympic double-handed dinghy classes (Men's and women's) When: Thursday July 10^th - Tuesday July 15^th New Zealand's current standings Women's 470 3^rdJo Aleh and Polly Powrie 33 points (5, 3, 17, 11, 5, 3, 2, 4) Men's 470 23^rdPaul Snow-Hansen and Daniel Willcox 43 points (3, 21, 19, 22, 27, 18, 8, 23) NZL Sailing Team Coaches: Nathan Handley and Pete Evans