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Ainslie clinches gold again

Source ITN

Updated on 17 August 2008

Ben Ainslie has clinched a gold medal for the third consecutive Games after winning the Finn medal race at the Olympic sailing regatta.

With nearest rival Zach Railey of the US, the only man who could have denied him victory, finishing sixth, the 31-year-old topped the overall standings with 23 points, a massive 22 ahead of his nearest rival.

He had already secured at least silver entering the medal race and his 12-point lead over Railey meant that he only needed to finish within five places of the American to secure gold.

Light, unsettled wind conditions saw the race being abandoned on Saturday and postponed for 24 hours but strong winds and heavy rain descended on the waters off Qingdao this afternoon to delay the start of the race for nearly two hours.

Ainslie had opted to cover Railey in the light conditions of the abandoned race but the Briton threw out his match racing approach in the 16-knot winds to assert his dominance, rounding the first mark with a 12-second lead over France's Guillaume Florent.

He maintained his lead at the halfway point and was 20 seconds clear by the final mark with Railey well out of the running in sixth place.

It made the run to the finish a mere procession for Ainslie as he crossed 13 seconds ahead of Denmark's Jonas Hoegh-Christensen to win his fourth medal, surpassing Rodney Pattison as Britain's most successful Olympic sailor.

Railey took the silver while Florent pipped Sweden's Daniel Birgmark to the bronze after finishing fourth.

© Independent Television News Limited 2008. All rights reserved.

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