Reynolds, who already owns gold and silver medals, had finishes of first, second and fourth in three fleet races on the Pacific Ocean. He's now won fleet races on consecutive days.
Reynolds and his crew, Magnus Liljedahl of Miami, may have clinched a medal, depending on whether Bermuda's Peter Bromby was going to seek redress Friday night for a breakdown in the day's second race.
"That'll make it a little easier to go into tomorrow, if that's the case, knowing that we just have to fight with two other guys and close it down a little bit," Reynolds said. "We'll just go for it and try to get the gold."
Reynolds, 44, was tied for second with Ian Walker of Britain with 32 points, but Walker held the tiebreaking advantage, should it come to it. The 11th and final fleet race will be sailed Saturday, also on the Pacific.
Defending gold medalist Torben Grael of Brazil was first with 27 points.
Reynolds won the gold medal in 1992 and the silver in 1988, both with Hal Haenel, now the U.S. team leader. Reynolds began sailing with Liljedahl after Haenel retired following their eighth place in 1996. Reynolds and Liljedahl won the Star world championship earlier this year.
Reynolds said earlier in the week that he and Liljedahl weren't in sync. He credited the turnaround to getting in front at the start and taking advantage of wind shifts.
"Sooner or later he's going to make the right calls," Liljedahl said of Reynolds. "In the beginning, there were a couple races where he didn't make the right calls. He's got a lot of confidence back.
"I've never seen him really sail any better than the last few days. He's just sailing really, really well."
Finn skipper Russ Silvestri of Tiburon, Calif., was 10 points out of bronze medal position with two races to sail. He had finishes of third and fourth Friday, with a third race abandoned.
On a day of crazily shifting winds on Sydney Harbor and the ocean, Britain won one gold medal and appeared to have won another, pending a protest.
Shirley Robertson won the Europe class gold medal, while Margriet Matthysse of the Netherlands took the silver and Serena Amato of Argentina the bronze.
Courtenay Becker Dey of The Dalles, Ore., the 1996 bronze medalist, finished 16th.
In the Laser class, Britain's Ben Ainslie was the provisional gold medalist, followed by Robert Scheidt of Brazil and Michael Blackburn of Australia. However, Ainslie and Scheidt were protesting each other over a collision in the final race. The protest was to be heard Friday night.
John Myrdal of Kailua, Hawaii, finished 13th in the Lasers.
Olympic Sailing
