Giles Scott (GBR) has done almost enough to lift his fourth Finn Gold Cup with a day to spare in Gaeta on Thursday, after three races were sailed in a solid 18-25 knots. He goes into Friday's medal race with a 21 point lead over second placed Jonas Høgh-Christensen (DEN). Pieter-Jan Postma (NED) is in third a further 14 points behind. Scott won two races while Fabian Pic (FRA) secured his place in the medal race by winning the first race of the day.

The patient wait for wind was rewarded on Thursday with more wind than the 72 boat fleet has seen during the rest of the week combined. Starting at 14-16 knots, it rose through the day, as did the sea state, to 25-28 knots, providing some awesome racing conditions for the strongest sailors in the world of sailing. It was a supreme test of physical prowess and sailing skill.

While Scott recorded a 7,1,1 to take an unassailable points lead into the medal race, Oliver Tweddell (AUS) was the next best performer of the day with 2,6,2. He said, “It was a brutal day and I think a lot of people will be pretty tired. I had an awesome day so I am stoked with that."

"It was an awesome, awesome day for Finn sailing, the physicality of it just shone through.” See a short video here.

“It has been a really light week up to today and unfortunately I hadn't sailed too well in those four races but today I was going to give it everything I've got.” He ends the day in 13th just 10 points from the medal race.

Of the several national selection trials going on this week the closest has probably been the Italians. The 2008 Olympian Giorgio Poggi (ITA) was the best performer of the week, and goes into the medal race in sixth place overall, but still awaits the official decision. “I sailed three nice races today. This was was last regatta where the federation take a look to see who will go to Rio.”

Poggi was instrumental in bringing the event to Gaeta. “I was very happy to have the event here in Gaeta but I said then that we'll have some nice wind. In the first days we didn't but at at the end it came and was a really beautiful day.”

“It was a really tough week with many sailors going up and down. For me there was only one bad race and all the other races I was always top 15 and this was the key to have a good championship this week.”

While Høgh-Christensen has a 14-point lead for the silver the battle for bronze will be tight. Postma holds a narrow margin over Ioannis Mitakis (GRE), Jake Lilley (AUS), the winner of the first race today, Pic, and Poggi, who can all take the bronze medal.

Pic said, “I did a committee bit start and went fully right. It was a good fight with Oli [Tweddell]. I was quite quick downwind, especially the second one. Today I was really under pressure. It was a really hard job. Upwind it was smashing through the waves, so really painful, but I made the medal race.”

Postma said, “It was amazing day of sailing. It was actually quite shifty so you had to tack a lot, but good action. Today the downwind was really nice to ride all the waves. The waves were quite big so it was really nice to surf, surf, surf.”

“Today for me was OK. I played catch up which went good. But my sailing could be better. I know I have got a different gear still but I didn't fully use it so today. I am happy but it wasn't perfect.”

Scott has all but won his fourth Finn Gold Cup. He just has to sail the medal race. “Today was the first day that stuck to the forecast. The first race was quite shifty but then it really pumped in. Absolutely glamour.”

“The conditions early in the week were really tricky and for a lot of top guys it was hard to stay consistent to deal with 30 degree shifts on a start line that was three-quarters of a mile long and a beat of 1.5 miles with 75 boats, That was incredible tough to manage, but after an early bad score 38th, it was just about trying to stay consistent.”

“I keep saying it but the Gold Cup is such a special event to all of us as Finn sailors and to be in a position to say that I've won four is a very privileged one to be in. I think there is an awful lot of talent in the Finn fleet at the moment and to be able to come out on top of that is great.”

Phillip Kasueske (GER), the stand out performer of the first four days, was the leader going into the day's races. He struggled in the windier conditions today, capsized several times in the very tough conditions, and ended up just one point outside the medal race, very disappointed. Then in a bizarre twist, the late disqualification of the boat directly in front of him put him back into tenth place and into the medal race.

The final race for the rest is scheduled for 11.00 on Friday with the medal race starting off the old town of Gaeta around 13.00. It will be a big event for the small town, with local media and school children being invited to come along and watch.

Results after seven races

1 GBR41 Giles Scott 17
2 DEN2 Jonas Høgh-Christensen 38
3 NED842 Pieter-Jan Postma 52
4 GRE77 Ioannis Mitakis 55
5 AUS41 Jake Lilley 59
6 ITA117 Giorgio Poggi 64
7 FRA17 Fabian Pic 67
8 CAN18 Tom Ramshaw 73
9 GBR11 Ed Wright 74
10 GER 259 Phillip Kasueske 75

The British Olympic Association (BOA) has announced the names of the very first athletes to officially join Team GB for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

A total of eight athletes have been selected across six of the ten sailing events, who between them have won four Olympic medals and seven World Championship golds.

Giles Scott's is the first name to appear on the Rio teamsheet, with the 28-year-old, unbeaten in almost two years, set to make his Olympic debut in the Finn class.

Happy have been selected to represent @TeamGB for #Rio2016. 1 year out and plenty of work to do!!

— Giles Scott (@GilesScott) September 9, 2015

London 2012 silver medallists Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark are paired together again in the 470 Women's class while Luke Patience, who also won silver three years ago, teams up with two-time World Champion Elliot Willis in the 470 Men's event.

Bryony Shaw, who became Britain's first female Olympic medal-winning windsurfer with bronze at Beijing 2008, is set to contest her third Olympic Games next year in the RS:X Women's event.

London 2012 Olympian Alison Young returns in the Laser Radial while 2015 Laser World Champion Nick Thompson earns his first Olympic appearance to round off the first wave of sailing selections for Rio.

British sailors have won 55 medals - including 26 golds - since sailing made its debut at Paris 1900 with Team GB topping the overall Olympic sailing medal table.

Trials for the Irish Olympic team get underway in the mens and women's Laser class this Winter.

#bar – Anyone who followed the build-up to the 2012 Olympic Games will remember that the biggest hurdle to Ben Ainslie's historic fourth gold medal was another Brit by the name of Giles Scott.

Their rivalry was one of the most compelling stories of the lead-up to the London 2012 Olympics – a classic narrative as Scott, the apprentice and former training partner, attempted to unseat the dominant figure of the previous generation, and win the single Team GBR place at the Games.

History records that Ainslie won selection, and then won his fourth gold medal. But Giles Scott used his time wisely; he raced with Luna Rossa in their 2013 America's Cup campaign, and this summer won the Finn Olympic Class World Championship in Santander. Scott is now a firm favourite for gold in Rio 2016, and will be a key member of the British America's Cup team, Ben Ainslie Racing.

Their story began much earlier than most people realise, right back when Scott was a talented junior.

"The first time I met him was years and years ago," recalled Scott when he came in to the BAR offices to sign his contract. "I was doing a National Junior event. I was with the Northampton team, and Ben came and did a talk. I think I would have been about ten years old, sailing with my older brother. I didn't talk to him, but I think I got a sweater signed by him!"

"We crossed paths at various events after that," he went on, "but it was when I started sailing the Finn (the Olympic class boat in which Ainslie won his final three gold medals) that I really got to know him. It was 2006 when he came back to the boat – after two years away – to prepare for the 2008 Games. I was one of the youngest members of the Finn squad and still at University, and Ben was the figurehead."

Ainslie remembers that time clearly. "It was a lot of fun because they were talented guys who were enjoying learning to sail a new class of boat, and for me it was refreshing having some young, motivated guys there to train with – so it worked very well. And Giles was the stand-out talent of that group." Scott was the ISAF Youth World Champion in the single-handed class in 2005. "They didn't really have any expectations of the 2008 Olympics," added Ainslie, "but then with me moving away into the America's Cup, it was a different story when I came back in 2010. They were that much older, and really going for the 2012 Games."

Thanks to the idiosyncrasies of the Olympic rules, only one person per nation can compete in each of the ten sailing events. Ben Ainslie and Giles Scott were — by any reasonable measure — the best two athletes in their class in the world. Scott was World Champion in 2011; while Ainslie was World Champion (for the sixth time) in 2012. But because they were both British, only one of them could go to the Games.

"The thing is about Giles," said Ainslie, "he's a really nice guy, and I remember saying to him in the build-up to 2008 that it's great to be nice, but you also have to learn to stand-up for yourself and not let people push you around. Of course, he'd really taken that to heart and so it was a slightly different story for 2012 when he was going for the Olympics. And quite rightly, he needed to stand up for himself. He had just as much right as anybody else to that spot."

"There was a switch in my mentality," said Scott. "I had to switch from having Ben on a pedestal, to seeing him as a competitor that I wanted to beat. There was no switch in the way that we operated off the water, but on the water there was a definite transition. He was always trying to assert the dominance that he had always had, and I was constantly trying to break that down."

The two men went head-to-head in the events that Team GBR had defined for the selection process. "I won a lot of the events in the build-up to the start of the selection events," reflected Scott, "and then [when it came to the selections] Ben was at the top of his game and he ticked all the boxes, while I finished second." The rest is history, Ainslie got the spot on the British team, went to the London Olympics and, under almost unimaginable pressure, won his fourth gold.

"The one good thing that came out of it was that it opened up the America's Cup doorway," commented Scott. He started sailing with Team Korea, and then Luna Rossa offered him a place on their sailing team.

"All the guys you speak to at Luna Rossa only have good things to say about Giles and how he fitted in with the team," said Ainslie. "And that's one of the reasons why we wanted him to be part of this team. There are a handful of sailors of his generation in the world that stand out as really a cut above the rest, and Giles is clearly one of those. We have been very selective about the people that we have brought in; we know that they will gel with the team. And with Giles, it was a 'no-brainer'. A good team player and a winner. We are very excited about him being with us."

Scott has continued where Ainslie left off, and now dominates the single-handed men's Finn class, recently winning the 2014 World Championships with clear blue water between him and the pack. It's obvious that Scott has unfinished business with that Finn gold medal, and doesn't intend to let it slip away again.

Combining America's Cup sailing with the Olympics is something that Ainslie knows all about, but how does Scott think he will fare? "I'm hoping it will be easy to integrate the two, and achieve my Olympic goals and have a positive impact on the Cup. It's an amazing project to be involved in. I'm just feeling very excited about getting my teeth into it and trying to make it all happen."

Stephen 'Sparky' Parks, RYA Olympic Manager, agrees joining BAR is a positive move for Scott, "Joining BAR is a great option for Giles. No one understands what it takes to win an Olympic medal better than Ben Ainslie – and that will help to ensure that Giles gets the job done in Rio before focussing exclusively on the America's Cup. Giles will be able to draw on Ben's experience to ensure he keeps the Finn Olympic Gold medal in GBR hands, where it has been since 2000. Equally, Ben knows Giles well, and he knows he will bring a host of raw sailing skills to the BAR programme."

And what about working with Ben after all those bruising encounters on the water? "It's very useful to have been through that, because if two people were ever going to fall out over something, it would be over an Olympic selection – you are battling each other for your dream. Going forward from that, I have a knowledge of him and how he performs – what he likes, what he doesn't like – you just know each other, so I think it can only be a positive thing," concluded Scott.

Giles Scott – Fact file

Date of Birth: 23rd June 1987

Place of Birth: Huntingdon

Current Home: Weymouth

Major Titles: ISAF Youth World Champion 2005; Finn World Champion 2011 and 2014; Finn European Champion 2011 and 2014; Rio Olympic Test Event 2014.

#star – Ireland will rejoin the Star sailing circuit when Peter O'Leary's former crew Stephen Milne from the Beijing Olympics teams up with British Finn superstar Giles Scott for the Star Sailors League Finals, organised by the Nassau Yacht Club for December 1st to 7th 2014.

The list of champions taking up the invitation to the regatta is getting longer by the week.

After the recent announcement of the first 12 competitors, who gained automatic access to the SSL Finals because of their positions in the Skipper Ranking, and the first guest star, London 2012 gold medallist, Freddy Loof, it is the turn of the very young but also very promising Giles Scott. Now virtually a certainty for the British Olympic squad, the rising star is also seen as a natural successor to Ben Ainslie who has retired from that side of the sport to devote himself full-time to the America's Cup.

Milne from Belfast Lough said: "I started sailing the Star Class on the run up to the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing for Team Ireland with Peter O'Leary. Our best result being a second place finish at the Bacardi Cup. Training closely with Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson, we developed our skills pretty quickly and managed to qualify for Ireland and took our place on the start-line in Qingdao. Sailing in the SSL finals and crewing for my good friend Giles this year will be fantastic. It will be nice to be back in a Star boat and to see, race against and learn from some old pals and great sailors. I guess my sailing goals change as the dynamics and politics of the sport change as they have done in recent years. Some decisions I guess are decided for us by others. But one dream to sail in or be involved with an Americas Cup team has always stayed a constant."

Unbeaten in 2014, Scott repeated his brilliant double of 2011 this year to become both Finn European and World Champion. He now tackles the first Star fleet of his career flanked by old hand Stephen Milne, who has just won the Etchells Europeans with fellow Star Class sailor and pal, Ante Razmilovic. The duo is up against a truly superb fleet that will most likely feature a record gathering of medal winners.

The SSL is also growing fast and looking set to hold plenty more big surprises in the coming weeks. The hottest tips on the water will be Robert Scheidt, who has won five Olympic medals, two in the Star class, London 2012 Star champion Freddy Loof, top-ranked SSL skipper Diego Negri, Robert Stanjek, World Champion 2014 at Malcesine, Mateusz Kusznierewicz, Gold Star and two-time Olympic medallist, Xavier Rohart, bronze at Athens and two-time World Champion, and many more besides.

Giles Scott says:
"I've recently won the first Olympic test event, European Championships and World Championship in the Finn class. My career goals are to have success at the Olympics and go on to win the America's Cup. I'm super excited to come and race in the Star League, a chance to race against some of the best sailors in the world, both young and old, is a chance that I was not going to give up, I can't wait."

Sailing in Palma today, Dun Laoghire's Annalise Murphy had mediocre results compared to yesterday's stellar opening round, dropping her from second overall to 14th in a fleet of 78 boats.

The second day of racing in Palma offered the 1000 sailors racing in the 10 Olympic classes and the 2.4 paralympic event, tricky conditions with moderate and shifty winds. Today's races were sailed in opposite wind directions, with the remaining North-Easterly opening the day but replaced in the afternoon by the expected sea breeze. The committee was able to complete a race for all classes in both winds in moderate conditions averaging 10 knots.

The British team capitalised on yesterday's results to take top placing in three classes.

Olympic Gold medallist and Sailing World Cup leader, Ben Ainslie (GBR) claimed today's races and the lead in the Finn class in front of team mate and earlier leader Giles Scott (GBR), and Pieter-Jan Postma (NED). In the other group the races went to Australian Brendan Casey coached by Finn medallist, John Bertrand (USA) and by junior sailor Jorge Zarif (BRA) coached by Robert Scheidt brother and ex-coach Thomas Scheidt.

Bronze medallists in the 2011 Rolex Miami regatta, Luke Patience and Stuart Bithell add two more victories to their score in the 470 men fleet and climb from 6th to 1st overall. Nick Rogers and Chris Grube (GBR) remain in second overall, three points ahead of Australians Mat Belcher and Malcolm Page.

"The racing was good today, the forecast was right. We started in the offshore wind and came back with the sea breeze. There were different styles going on so it was good to train, keep your eyes out and keep sailing to all the changes going on around you." explained Luke Patience.

Despite winning a race yet, consistent racing brought Nick Dempsey (GBR) in top place in the RS:X fleet. Beijing Bronze medallist, Shahar Zubari (ISR) got to second while Dorian van Rijsselberge (NED) drops to third after suffering in today's conditions. Today's races went to Mashia Nimrod (ISR) and 2008 Olympic champion, Tom Ashley (NZL).

With a total of five races sailed in the event and tricky conditions close to the shore in Palma, the 49ers fleet has collected high scores. The Sibello (ITA) brothers are back on the international circuit after the Sail for Gold regatta. The 2009 European champions are in good form winning two out of three races. They claim the top place four points from early leaders Dylan Fletcher and Alan Sign (GBR).

The Princesa Sofia defending champions, Manu Dyen and Stéphane Christidis (FRA) are taking third overall.

The Japanese AI Kondo and Wakako Tabata (JAP), are conserving the first position in the 470 women fleet with top five results collected in diverse conditions in during the last two days. The Japanese have been training in Palma for the last three weeks with some of the top teams.

"We used to be lacking speed in the breeze but our intense training in Palma has paid off on Monday. We were able to master the breezy conditions and continue with good results today. Lots of other top teams have changed crew like the Dutch or the British so it does give us an advantage." declared Ai Kondo.

The Sail For Gold winners are only two points from Jo Aleh and Bianca Barbarich-Barber (NZL) who claimed today's races. The Princesa Sofia regatta is the first event together as a team for Joe and Bianca who stand in for Polly Powrie who is recovering from a bike crash! The new composed team who has been training together for six days only before the event is collecting great results.

"There was a lot less wind than yesterday. The conditions were good for us. We had lots of fun!" says Aleh.

Australian Tom Slingsby conserves his lead in the Laser fleet with top three results so far. However the day was perfect for Olympic Champion Paul Goodison (GBR) who took two bullets and climbes to second overall only five points from the World Champion. Julio Alsogaray (ARG) is in thrid after winning the day's first race and placing fifth in the next.

In the Radial, Paige Railey (USA) has collected four second places to lead the fleet in front of Marit Bouwmeester (NED). Tania Calles (MEX), Tatiana Drozdovskaya (BLR), Gintare Scheidt (LTU) and Cecilia Saroli (ARG) all win a race today.

The RS:X women fleet has a new leader with Marina Alabau (ESP) racing consistently to a fourth and a second placing: "I am happy with my day, the wind was difficult, light and shifty. I stayed fourth during the whole first race and started the second in the same position but was able to catch up two places and pass Blanca before the finish."

Alessandra Sensini (ITA) didn't perform in the lighter conditions adding twenty points to her score today. She is now in second position overall. Charline Picon (FRA) who had suffered from equipment failure in Monday's windy races, was undefeated today with two bullets. She seats in 12th position overall but could come up in the front when the discard comes in.

Mateus Kusznierewicz and Dominik Zycki (POL) win the first race and claim the lead in the Star in front of Percy/Simpson (GBR) and Scheidt/Prada (BRA). The Italian team of Diego Negri and Enrico Voltolini (ITA) win the second race to place fifth overall.

In the 2.4m, Thierry Schmitter (NED) is keeping the lead in the ten boats fleet after collecting another first and a third.

After a long day on the water Stage One was completed for the Women's Match Racing at the 42nd Trofeo S.A.R. Princesa Sofia MAPFRE in Palma de Mallorca, Spain.

Advancing to the Gold Group are the three undefeated teams (Lehtinen, Barkow and Tunnicliffe) and the three 2nd place teams in each group (Leroy, Hahlbrock, and Macgregor).  They will sail a round robin to determine the seeding of the Quarter-Final Knock-out series.

Fighting for a chance to join the Gold Group in the Quarter-Finals are: Skudina, Roca, Groeneveld, Souter, Le Berre, and Hazard. They will sail a round robin with the top two advancing.

The remaining 12 teams will continue racing in the Silver and Bronze groups to determine places 13 through 24 in the event.

Racing will resume on Wednesday at 10am for the Women match racing and 11am for the other classes.

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