EMMA Wilson is keeping her rivals in her wake and feet on the ground after further underlining her Olympic medal ambitions in Marseille.

Christchurch’s Wilson - who competes in the foiling windsurfing class known as iQFoil - won bronze three years ago in Tokyo and bronze and silver in the two most recent World Championships.

Her mother Penny had two top-10 finishes at the Olympics in Barcelona and Atlanta while her former training partner, Bryony Shaw, won bronze in Beijing.

Wilson, 25, won four of her opening seven races, boasting a significant lead over nearest rival, Israel's world champion Sharon Kantor, at the midway point of the regatta.

“I just imagine they’re all my training partners and just imagine we’re in a training session," she said.

"I'm trying to keep smiling and keep enjoying it but it's obviously pretty cool to be doing so well at the Olympics."

Wilson will race up to 16 times - and will get to discard her worst three performances - before the medal series decides the podium places.

“The goal has always been Olympic gold and here we are,” she said.

“With my personality, I am constantly debriefing. Every evening I’m thinking about what happened and why it happened. Maybe there is a thing of not trying too hard during the week. But if you qualify first, it makes your life so much easier.

“There is a balance. It’s part of the game, you have to do well all week but the real race is at the end. All my training is focused around that and all I can do is keep trying and hopefully it goes my way at some point.”

Follow the British Sailing Team at Paris 2024 on Instagram at @britishsailing and on britishsailingteam.com