AS<\p>THE 2007 Rio Pan-Am Games approaches its climax Bermuda’s show jumpers and sailors are still thick in the action.Today the Island’s sailors will be embroiled in their final races at Marina de Gloria ahead of tomorrow’s medal round.

Perennial Pan-Am favourite Malcolm Smith may have made a slow start in the early weather affected stages in the sunfish, while Katrina Williams had been in a fine fettle of form in the laser radial until Wednesday when a dip in form — coming in eleventh and seventh in the laser radial — put her back down the pecking order into sixth position.

It was also a mixed day on Wednesday for Smith who finished third and fifth in his sunfish races to leave him in sixth place overall.

The ex-world champion and former Pan-Am silver medalist had been tipped for a medal but will need to pick up his performances before the weekend to fulfill his goal.

Veteran Brett Wright lies in 11th place overall in the laser after finishing twelfth and ninth at the Marina da Gloria.

Finally Stevie Dickinson and Leatrice Roman finished seventh in the snipe to leave them occupying eighth place in the standings.

Wednesday had been scheduled for a rest day but the sailors were required to take to the seas after insufficient wind had seen several races postponed earlier in the week. They will once again be in action today.

Chef de Equipe Paul Pereech believes it is inconceivable that Bermuda’s pair of show jumpers will not be among the medal challengers at the National Equestrian Centre.

At time of writing both Jill Terceira and Patrick Nesbitt are striving to qualify for today’s finals.

Speaking to the Mid-Ocean News<$>, Pereech backed both riders to enjoy fruitful competitions.

“These two riders definitely have a medal chance,” he said.

“There are a lot of professionals competing but with horses some days you have good days and all we can do is hope for the best performance out of each of our individuals.

“Our ambitions are to medal or certainly be one of the top individual qualifiers. The top individual placed person at the Pan-Am Games will win a spot at the Beijing Olympics for their country — that’s our objective and hopefully we can achieve that.”

Athlete Deon Brangman is involved in the high jump finals today at the Joao Havalenge Stadium.

Meanwhile Tyrone Smith has been earmarked for a bright future after he just missed out on qualifying for the men’s long jump final.

The 22-year-old marked his Pan-Am Games debut with a leap of 7.32 to finish 14th out of 20 competitors.

Despite his disappointment, team manager Branwen Smith-King was full of praise for her athlete who will now set his sights on next year’s Beijing Olympics.

“It was a great experience for Tyrone and this disappointment will only serve to make him stronger for the future,” Smith-King said.

“He has a tremendous amount of ability and he must remember this was his biggest ever meet.

“I was impressed with how calm he was and he didn’t seem fazed at all despite being up against a field containing an Olympic gold medalist.

“His fouled his first jump but recovered well and he wasn’t that far from qualifying.

“Obviously he was very disappointed and that’s to be expected because he has so much desire to do well.”

At the weekend Tyler Butterfield crossed the finishing line in 33rd position — but was less than a second behind the winner.

So close was the men’s road race it took officials an age to decide its order of finishers, with 32 riders placed between Wendy Cruz’s winning time of 3.38.50 and Renato Seabra’s 3.38.56 in 34th.

Bermuda’s number one was even displayed as 3rd on the giant screen when the bell rang to signal the last loop of Flamengo Park, highlighting the bottleneck nature of the closely fought race.