Epsom sailor Harriet Ward may have missed out on a podium spot at the 2015 Youth Sailing World Championships, but she is still happy with her performance.

A fifth-place finish with partner Courtney Bilbrough in the 29er class was impressive enough to also earn the plaudits from the Royal Yachting Association (RYA) youth racing manager.

The class was raced over 13 rounds at Langkawi in Malaysia, and the duo finished with two wins, their first ever at world championship level, equalling that of the eventual overall winners from Finland.

However, two finishes outside the top 10 cost the pair valuable points and they finished 10 points outside the top three – behind Denmark (silver), New Zealand (bronze) and Spain (fourth).

Overall, Great Britain finished fourth in the Nations Trophy, just three points behind France in third, but 61 points off winners Australia.

A top five finish at last week’s regatta had been the target for Ward and Bilbrough at the beginning of the competition, hence the 17-year-old’s delight.

Ward, a pupil at City of London Freemen’s School in Ashtead with hopes of going to Southampton University to study geography, said: “It was a pretty good week overall, we finished fifth which we are really pleased with as that was our aim.

“We also improved a lot over the week with our sailing and results getting better.”

The RYA manager Mark Nicholls said: “Harriet and Courtney have had a good regatta and should be pleased with themselves. “They were in that top ball-park all week and have made some good decisions.

“A couple of decisions didn’t go quite their way, but they have had a good result and done really well at this level.”

He added: “Fourth on the Nations Trophy table is a huge improvement on last year and we were actually very close to beating the French.

“We had some strong days and some more difficult ones.

“With a relatively inexperienced team, the coaches did a fantastic job looking after the sailors and they should be proud of their work.

“They have no doubt contributed to the medals but also to every sailor’s learning and improvement.”