West Mersea sailor Saskia Clark is feeling on top of the world.

The London 2012 silver medallist and her sailing partner Hannah Mills are now ranked number one in the world, in the ISAF women's 470 class.

The duo, who recently won World Cup Final gold in Abu Dhabi, have climbed above New Zealand’s Olympic duo Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie in the rankings.

Clark, who has been nominated for the Sports Personality of the Year accolade at tonight’s Active Essex Sports Awards at the Weston Homes Community Stadium, says being world number one is a “huge achievement” for the pair.

Clark told the Daily Gazette: “As a team, we’ve never been number one in the world before and it feels like a nice reflection of our year and a reward for our consistent medalling.

“It’s great to be number one in the world but the greatest thing for us is winning medals.

“The dream has always been Olympic gold but to be ranked as world number one is a huge achievement.

“We now have eight months to make it stick and make the gains that we need to make.

“There are a few of us who are becoming clear contenders there’s still eight months to go until Rio and a lot can happen before then.

“We just need to focus our minds on what we’ll be trying to achieve in Rio.”

Clark and Mills, who have been officially selected in the Great Britain squad for next year’s Olympics, travel to Rio this weekend.

It will be their last official regatta at the venue, before the Games.

Clark added: “Rio’s a tricky venue - the weather gets quite seasonal and it won’t be the same in August.

“But it’s good to get used to the tides and the patterns of the winds.

“All of the nations will feel that they’ve not got enough time there so it’s important to go out there and compete.”

l West Mersea sailor Hannah Stodel is in a silver medal position at the midway stage of the Para Sailing World Championships, in Australia.

Stodel, along with John Robertson and Steve Thomas, is part of the Sonar trio competing in breezy conditions in Melbourne.

The two-time world champions have revelled in the 18-boat Sonar fleet, picking up a race win and a third in their opening six races.