Sam Sills couldn't even speak for excitement after leaping up the iQFOiL standings in a dramatic day on the water at Paris 2024.

The 31-year-old was sat back in 21st place after the opening race of his Olympic debut in Marseille but saw an entertaining few races haul himself up to ninth place overall at the half-way point.

A sixth place finish in the second race of the series, was quickly followed by three more top 10 finishes and an outlier of 16th place.

And Sills noted that the excitement of day two left him without a voice and enjoying the racing experience.

"It was pretty amazing actually," he said.

"It was tough, it was real tough. They laid the start right on the edge of the wind line, so there was a lot of jeopardy. There were people not making the start.

"Then the wind just kept increasing and the drama just kept coming, there were people crashing in front of you, it was so good.

"I lost my voice with the intensity of it all. It was seriously hard as well with five races back to back. I imagine it was a good show so yeah, loved it."

With the wind playing havoc with the starts on day two of competition, Sills was just one of the field forced to get creative with his foiling to get back into the top of the fleet.

And he did just that, noting that playing 'gutsy' has been the way to play it in Marseille.

"It was quite deep," he said. "The starts were really difficult, it was very gusty on the start line.

"The wind was hard on the left, so that means I could get a gain if I went to the right and just waited for it to come back. I did and sailed across most of the fleet, and got back into the top few which was nice. I needed to do that, and keep it together."

Sills now needs to finish in the top 10 after 12 races to progress through the to the quarterfinal or semifinal races.

Already sitting in ninth with 44 points with six races to go, the windsurfer noted that his plan is to stay calm and collected on the lead up to the most important races of his life.

He added: "I’m doing my best. Just trying to stay focused and deliver.

"There’s so much jeopardy out there and you’ve just got to keep calm, whatever happens you’ve got to hold on and keep going, basically.

"We’ve got a great team behind us and just don’t give up." 

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