Yukio Makino and Kenji Takahashi sailed into contention in the men's 49er sailing class on Saturday with two top ten finishes on the day, which moved them into fifth overall at the competition's half-way point.
The event, raced on the waters off Marina da Gloria in Rio's Guanabara Bay, saw the Makino-Takahashi combo got their second top-three finish of the competition in the day's second race, giving them 37 points overall.
The pairing remains well off Kiwi event leaders Peter Burling and Blair Tuke, but within range of the provisional bronze medalists, Jonas Warrer and Christian Peter Lubeck from Denmark.
With six races to go, the veteran crew of Makino, a three-time Olympian, and Takahashi, 33, have already dropped one 18th-place result, so they will be looking for consistently high finishes in order to remain in medal contention.