Australian sailors target World Cup gold

Australian sailors Jason Waterhouse and Lisa Darmanin will be part of a dogfight for gold in the medal race at the Nacra 17 class world championships in Auckland.

The Rio Olympic silver medallists share the lead after 14 rounds of races but are among six crews still in with a shot at victory on the Hauraki Gulf on Sunday.

Waterhouse and Darmanin won Saturday's last gold fleet race to move level with Italians Vittorio Bissaro and Maelle Frascari in the mixed multi-hull class.

They are just four points clear of a Danish crew, with Great Britain, Austria and Brazil also having boats harbouring hopes of winning gold.

Hopes are fading that there will be Australians involved in medal races for two other Olympic classes staging their world championships concurrently in Auckland - the men's 49er and women's 49erFX.

The best prospects are 49er crew Jim Colley and Shaun Connor, who are 12th.