Olympic hopefuls Jesse and Zander Kirkland achieved a milestone competing at the 43 Trofeo SAR Princesa Sofia-Mapfre in Mallorca, Spain yesterday.The local sailing siblings, who are currently 11th in the 76 boat-49er fleet, qualified for the Gold fleet for the first time at a Grade One ISAF World Cup event.“We are excited about making the Gold fleet for the first time in the class,” said elated crewman Zander Kirkland. “Gold fleet is going to be a battle and it will be our first time fighting it out with the class's elite in this tight group.”The Kirklands intend to use the experience of sailing with the world's elite in the Gold fleet as preparations for next month's final Olympic qualifying event in Croatia.“It will serve as great practice for the World Championships which is where our final Olympic qualification opportunity is,” Zander said. “Pretty much all of the top world players are here and most of our competition for the Olympic country qualification are here as well.“In the Gold fleet we will be focusing on executing at the starts and doing clean boat handling manoeuvres around the course because at this level there is very little room for error. Gold Fleet will be two days of racing out in the Bay of Palma.”As well as advancing to the Gold fleet for the first time at this level, the Kirkland brothers also scored a rare bullet (first place) in yesterday's second race to add to a memorable day of sailing.“We also won a race which was awesome,” Zander said. “We just kept extending on that race and ended up with a large lead.“That's how it works in the 49er class because the boat goes so much faster in clear air. So when we were ahead we just focused on ‘running and hiding', and it worked. We had at least a two hundred yard lead at the finish!“Our speed in six to eight knots was great and it was cool to be going well with the world's best.”The Kirkland's, who have managed an impressive five top ten finishes so far this week, will now bid to qualify for Saturday's medal race to consist of the eventual top ten teams.Denmark's Jonas Warrer and Soren Hansen currently top the leaderboard after eight races.