After losing the overall lead following the opening race on day 4, Giles Scott recovered to end the day with a 15-point lead over Hungarian world champion Zsombor Berecz.
Andy Maloney, from New Zealand drops one place to third, despite winning the opening race. The other race wins went to Nils Theuninck, from Switzerland and Josip Olujic, from Croatia.
The Finn Europeans in Athens got back on track on Thursday with three more races completed.
The first race started in 7-9 knots. Oscar was raised at the top mark and the wind continued to increase to 12-14 knots over the afternoon before dropping in the middle of the final race to around 5 knots.
James Skulczuk, from Britain, was fastest to the top mark in the first race, Race 6, but it was Maloney who came through to lead into the finish.
Kisanov took second and Zarif recovered to take third. Regatta leader, Scott, recovered crossed in 14th, and briefly lost the overall lead to Maloney.
Race 7 started in great conditions, with 12-14 knots, nice waves and brilliant blue skies. Theuninck rounded the top mark in the lead and flew downwind to open up a huge gap on the fleet.
He never looked threatened, while the pack behind him were chasing hard. Jorge Zarif eventually crossed second with Scott third.
The wind was clearly dropping as the fleet started Race 8, and the course was reduced in size at each mark. Wright was the early leader from Joan Cardona, of Spain, and Max Salminen, from Sweden.
The second beat was crucial with lots of pressure changes in the dying breeze causing many place changes. Berecz emerged ahead to lead downwind, but Olujic got the final advantage to lead the fleet across the line from Berecz and Scott. Wright finished eighth.
The star performance of the day was undoubtedly Theuninck. The defending U23 European Champion is now leading the U23 championship from Cardona and Finland’s Oskari Muhonen.
The battle to win the four places in Tokyo took a new turn today with only Norway still among the top four nations from yesterday that haven’t already qualified.
A great day from Zarif moves him up to 10th and second nation, just one point behind Anders Pedersen from Norway, while a fantastic performance from Nils Theuninck puts Switzerland in third, with USA fourth.
There are two more races in the opening series scheduled on Friday, before the medal race and the final race for the rest on Saturday.
Finn 2019 Europeans – Leading Results after 8 races
1st GBR 41 Giles SCOTT 28 pts
2nd HUN 40 Zsombor BERECZ 43 pts
3rd NZL 61 Andy MALONEY 50 pts
4th ARG 48 Facundo OLEZZA 80 pts
5th NED 89 Nicholas HEINER 81 pts
6th TUR 21 Alican KAYNAR 92 pts
7th NZL 24 Josh JUNIOR 99 pts
8th GBR 11 Edward WRIGHT 100 pts
9th NOR 1 Anders PEDERSEN 102 pts
10th BRA 109 Jorge ZARIF 103 pts
