Peter Bromby's chances of qualifying for this summer's Olympic Games suffered a major blow after a miserable weekend of racing at the 2008 Star Worlds in Florida.

Pressure had mounted on the four-time Olympian following his black flag in Saturday's race and he compounded his woes with a lowly 63rd-place finish yesterday to leave him and crew Lee White in 49th position overall.

Bromby's nightmare weekend leaves him facing a mammoth task to secure an Olympic berth with him needing to finish no lower than fourth place in the standings with five races remaining in the regatta.

Regulations permit him to discard one of his race results.

Bromby, who had placed an encouraging fourth in his opening race on Friday, was black flagged for navigating across the windward side of the start line before the official starter's gun and was penalised for his actions on Saturday.

John MacCausland and Kevin Murphy of the USA lead the way in the standings.