Aust dad rides son's medal rollercoaster

When proud dad James Lilley jumped on a plane to South America, his son Jake was set to win a sailing medal.

When he landed in Buenos Aires he wasn't.

then after arriving in Rio, he was back in the mix.

Jake Lilley was sitting in third after a strong week of sailing in the Finn and had two races to go before the top-10 medal race.

"When he was doing so well earlier in the week I went out on Friday morning and bought a ticket," James Lilley said on Monday.

"(I) got all the way to Buenos Aires last night and he'd gone from third to 11th."

A horror day on the water meant Jake missed out on the top 10 on countback.

"He was shattered and naturally we were shattered as well," James said.

"I jumped on the plane and kept coming through to Rio.

"The next message I got as soon as I got off the plane in Rio was that in fact he's in the medal race."

A protest on another boat pushed Jake up one place and into equal eighth, giving him an unlikely but mathematically possible shot at a bronze medal.

James will get to watch his son compete for a medal at Marina da Gloria on Tuesday.

"Naturally he's delighted, we're absolutely over the moon, and very proud," he said.