Wellington, Sept 2 NZPA - New Zealand sailors feature strongly after the third day of competition at the Laser world championship at Hayling Island, off England.

New Zealanders occupy four of the top eight placings, with Josh Junior second, Mike Bullot fourth, Andy Maloney seventh and Andrew Murdoch eighth.

Junior, 20, was seventh and eighth in the two races overnight, which was enough to see him remain second equal on 18 points with Britain's Paul Goodison.

Bullot is two points behind Junior and Goodison after placing ninth and third overnight while Maloney continued his climb through the standings, breaking into the top 10 after a second and 11th.

Despite scoring his poorest race overnight with a 22nd placing, Murdoch improved from ninth to eighth because of consistent results on the first two days.

Australia's Tom Slingsby took the overall lead after two first placings overnight left him four points clear with a maximum of eight races remaining in the Olympic class regatta.