Southampton’s Paralympic champion Helena Lucas had victory snatched from her grasp after a poor final day in the International 2.4mR World Championship at Poole.

The early pacesetter was overtaken by Sweden’s Stellan Berlin who had won six previous World crowns and medalled at 12 of the last 13 championships.

Berlin’s victory made it a record-breaking seven World golds as he overcame all the odds to clinch the title in the final race.

The 47-year-old Scandinavian went into the 11th and last race nine points behind the overall leader knowing he needed to beat Lucas, above, by at least eight boats.

The other option was to finish no lower than fifth if Lucas, pictured, was more than eight boats behind him.

And that is exactly how the race panned out as Berlin finished second, to Lucas’s 21st. The unluckiest Brit had to be Ian Baker, Lucas’s Christchurch-based coach.

Baker had by far the best run of nine scores but spoiled his card by being one of the 23 Black Flagged and had to count a 76.