The 31-year-old Yorkshireman, who is now unbeaten on the international circuit since winning that memorable gold in China last year, displayed his credentials for this month's World Championship as he recovered from disqualification in race one to claim overall victory after six days of racing.

"I was surprised at how early after coming back after my break after the Games that I started getting back to winning again," Goodison said. "And when you're sailing well, that obviously helps with the confidence.

"I didn't sail particularly well today. I did enough to keep off the Croatian and the Cypriot, who were the only ones who could beat me, so I'm pretty chuffed. And it's great to be European champion again."

Goodison departs for Canada in the forthcoming week to prepare for the World Championship, where he hopes his victorious streak will continue.

He added: "Since coming back from the Games, the World Championship has been the one win I've really wanted and the whole year has been geared towards preparing for that.

"Although I can't go there thinking that the title's mine, I'm pretty happy with the way I'm sailing, so there's no reason not to be confident of doing well there."