Wright is crowned Finn World Champion

Ed Wright signalled his intent on the sole British Finn berth at the London 2012 sailing event after an emphatic World Championship victory in San Francisco on Saturday (4 September), with teammate Giles Scott also claiming bronze.

Wright, 32, lifted the coveted Finn Gold Cup for the first time, and did so in style with a first place in the 10-boat medal race ensuring a winning margin of 32 points, while Skandia Team GBR teammate Scott was left to battle it out with Rafael Trujillo for his second major regatta medal in three weeks.

With Wright having led the regatta since day three and with a comfortable 13 points ahead going into the final day, he was left to sail his own race, while a tense battle for silver ensued between Trujillo, five points ahead of the Skandia Sail for Gold Regatta winner Scott going into the day.

The Spaniard kept a close cover on the 23-year-old Brit, and although Scott managed to overtake a couple of times on the downwind legs, he couldn’t manage to get enough boats between him and Trujillo to promote himself into the silver spot. But the day was all about Wright, who’d proved the dominant force in the moderate to strong wind conditions that San Francisco had to offer this week.

Wright, the World Cup series winner, revealed he’d tailored his whole programme this year around winning the World Championship, at which his previous best effort was a bronze in 2006.

“It’s just amazing, I’m so happy,” said an elated Wright.

“I went to such lot of effort for this event. Last year I came close but this year I badly wanted to win the Worlds, so I pulled out all the stops and changed everything from my physique to my rig set up. It was all designed for the conditions we’ve had here.”

“We’ve had some great conditions,” Wright continued. “The breeze started out as moderate but then really piped up towards the end of the week and made for pretty exciting racing.

“All the competitors here have been amazing. Rafa, Giles, Thomas… I’ve been really impressed with them all and they’ve pushed me hard – what a great result for Skandia Team GBR to have four boats in the top ten.” “This is definitely the biggest thing that’s happened to me in my sailing career and I want to go on and win it again in Perth next year,” he declared. For Scott, a bronze medal also signalled his best ever World Championship finish, having ended his 2009 attempt in a disappointing fourth place.

“I’m pleased – if I’m honest I was hoping for a little bit more, but it is great to get another medal,” he said. “Rafa was always going to make it difficult for me today.”

“It’s a very good end to the season to have come away with medals from both of my outcome events for this year so I can’t really complain too much!”

Andrew Mills and Mark Andrews ensured that four of the top ten medal race positions were filled by Skandia Team GBR boats, with each of them securing a Worlds personal best of seventh and ninth respectively. Ben Ainslie was absent from the Finn Gold Cup, back on TeamOrigin duty after his brief return to the Finn for the Skandia Sail for Gold Regatta.

“It was a real nail-biter of a medal race – as much for those watching as it was for the sailors themselves,” surmised Skandia Team GBR Finn squad coach Matt Howard.

“Although there’s no such thing as an easy medal race, Ed made it look easy today. He’s done a great job this week and is a thoroughly deserving World Champion.

“Rafa did a good job covering Giles today and although he managed to get past a couple of times it wasn’t quite enough – but still a great result for Giles and for the whole squad out here. It’s been a great team performance.”

Nick Thompson will look to end this week of World Championships on a medal-winning for Skandia Team GBR when the Laser World Championships draw to a close at Hayling Island on Sunday afternoon.

Thompson, the 2009 bronze medallist, is in second place heading into the final day, with Australian Tom Slingsby enjoying a commanding 32 point lead with two races to go.

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