Ainslie sails top of the standings in Finn class with third win in four races

13 April 2012

Ben Ainslie moved to the top of the standings in the Finn class at the Olympic sailing regatta after claiming his third win in four races.

The 31-year-old, who is attempting to surpass Rodney Pattison as Britain's most successful Olympic sailor by winning a fourth medal in China, ran another masterful race, coming back from ninth place at the midway point to pip Brazil's Eduardo Couto at the line.  

Ainslie began the regatta poorly with 10th place in the first race but has come back superbly to pick up three wins and a fourth place in the next four races to lead the standings with seven points, four ahead of American Zach Railey, who finished seventh in race five.  

Riding the waves: Ainslie sailed into gold

Riding the waves: Ainslie sailed into gold

However, it was not all good news for Team GB as Stevie Morrison and Ben Rhodes began poorly on the second day in the 49er class, slipping three places in the overall standings to fourth after only managing 14th place in race four.  

The 2007 world champions held a one-point lead over Italian brothers Piero and Gianfranco Sibello after placing in the top five in the first three races yesterday but came home well down the field in the opening race today, over three minutes behind the winning Italian boat.  

The British pair now have 26 points, 12 behind Italy and six adrift of second-placed Denmark.  

Meanwhile, the Yngling crew of Sarah Ayton, Sarah Webb and Pippa Wilson are now tied for the lead with the Netherlands on 13 points after finishing fourth in race five, nearly two minutes behind the winning Dutch boat.  

British windsurfer Bryony Shaw took fourth place in the opening race in the RS:X women's category, trailing 73 seconds behind Yin Jian of China, while Nick Dempsey was 11th in the opening RS:X men's race, which was won by Israel's Shahar Zubari by seven seconds from China's Wang Aichen.

Both British crews in the 470 class began poorly with Nick Rogers and Joe Glanfield finishing 19th in the men's race while Christina Bassadone and Saskia Clark placed 13th in the opening women's race.  

Morrison and Rhodes continued to struggle in race five of the 49er event, finishing 15th to drop to fifth in the overall standings.

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