Ainslie re-establishes winning form in Melbourne

Hot on the heels of securing the world match race championship, triple Olympic gold medallist Ben Ainslie re-established his winning form in Melbourne in the class in which he is seeking a fifth consecutive medal at Weymouth in 2012.

The British squad in the Finn singlehander took all three podium places as Ainslie’s top rivals, current world champion Ed Wright and Giles Scott, took silver and bronze.

Andrew Mills was eighth, leaving other national coaches scratching their heads about any prospect of dislodging Britain from dominance which should deliver a third consecutive gold medal in the class – Iain Percy won handsomely in Sydney in 2000 – and a record fourth consecutive gold for Ainslie, who won silver in the Laser in 1996, gold in Sydney, and then Finn gold in both Greece and China.

Nick Thompson, in the absence of the current British holder of the Laser Olympic title, Paul Goodison, beat the current world sailor of the year, Tom Slingsby, to deliver a second gold for the Skandia GBR team. A third went to the paralympic duo of Alexandra Rickham and Niki Burrell.