With two races still to sail on the final day the pressure was on in the Finn class. Great Britain's Ben Ainslie had a fourteen-point lead going into the final day and just had to stay out of trouble and sail safe in order to win a medal. Ainslie, who won the gold medal at the Sydney Olympics in the Laser class before swapping to the larger Finn dinghy, was undefeated in these waters last year at the 2002 Olympic Test Event and made sure that the title remained. A second and a fourth place secured him the regatta by twenty-one points from the 1996 Olympic gold medallist Mateusz Kusznierewicz of Poland with Rafael Trujillo of Spain finishing third.

Ainslie commented, `I am obviously really pleased with my result here and it is a great advantage to remain unbeaten in these waters. However, there is never any air of complacency and you always have to keep pushing forwards to make the next step and stay in front of the field.`

A gold medal also went to fellow Olympic gold medallist Shirley Robertson and her crew of Sarah Webb and Sarah Ayton. The points were close in the women's Yngling class and the medals came down to the final race which Robertson and her team went into placed in bronze medal position. The team kept their composure and took a risk on the final upwind leg, which paid off and gave them the race lead, which they kept to the finish. A win in the final race was enough to secure them the gold medal from Hannah Swett, Joan Touchette and Melissa Purdy of America who had been leading the regatta from the second day.

Webb said, `We are really delighted with our result here and I am especially pleased as it is my first event win in the Yngling sailing with Shirley and Sarah. There are a number of positive things that we can take from this regatta to Cadiz with the main one being that we are now going a lot quicker, especially in conditions that we were not confident in before like in the lighter winds.`

Going into the final race in the 470 class, Team GBR sailors Nick Rogers and Joe Glanfield were in silver medal position and just had to try and sail their own race as best they could in order to hold on to a medal position. Making sure that the Italian pairing of Gabrio Zandona and Andrea Trani were behind them, they crossed the line in seventh place, which was enough to secure them the silver medal behind Johan Molund and Martin Andersson of Sweden.

Glanfield summed up his thoughts on the importance of the regatta to their campaign, `this event has always been very important in our programme this year. Having done it the last time round in the Olympic cycle we know that it is the same as the Olympics - the venue is the same, as well as the way the regatta is run and many of the people here. In Sydney we were fourth at the pre-Olympics and then fourth at the Games, so we are hoping this is a good omen for what is to come.`

Another guaranteed medal, although the colour is still to be decided, went to Paul Brotherton and Mark Asquith in the 49er class, who sailed a good day scoring two second places and an eleventh. This performance meant that they could not drop below a bronze medal although the final race tomorrow will decide what colour medal they leave Athens with. Chris Nicholson and Gary Boyd of Australia currently lead the class by fourteen points.

Despite a set back earlier in the week when they suffered a broken mast, Olympic gold medallist Iain Percy and crew Steve Mitchell left Athens on a high after scoring two first places on the final day, giving them additional confidence going into their European championships early next month. The class was won by double Olympic medallist Torben Grael of Brazil and crew Marcelo Ferreira.

Tomorrow sees the final day of racing in Athens for the 49er, Laser, Europe, Mistral and Tornado class.

Source: RYA - Sacha Oswald