British
Finn sailor Giles Scott secured victory at the Princess Sofia Trophy regatta
on Friday with a day to spare to continue his winning streak since returning
to the Olympic circuit six months ago.
Scott
wrapped up the regatta with a third to go into Saturday’s double points medal
race – where only the top 10 sailors compete for a podium place – with an
unassailable 29-point lead.
Since the
Princess Sofia Trophy began in Palma, Spain, on Monday (April 2), Scott only
finished outside of the top ten of the 79-boat Finn fleet twice.
The victory
echoes his winning performance at the Rio 2016 Olympics when his metronomic
consistency guaranteed him the gold medal prior to the medal race.
Scott, 30,
remains unbeaten since stepping back into the Finn in October 2017 having
taken a year off to sail with his predecessor Sir Ben Ainslie’s America’s Cup
team.
He marked
his return to the Olympic circuit with a win at Enoshima Olympic Week then followed
it up with another at the Miami round of the World Cup Series in January this
year.
Having sat
out of the recent Finn European Championships, which was won by team mate Ed
Wright, Scott’s victory in Palma is significant as the clock counts down to
the 2018 season highlight, the Sailing World Championships in Aarhus,
Denmark, in August.

“I’ve had a
great week, and to have sealed the regatta with a race to spare is a very
nice position to be in,” said Scott, from Huntingdon in Cambridgeshire.
“I’m
really pleased that I managed to be a bit more consistent than everyone else
and put in a solid series.
“It’s been
tricky to select when to take some leverage and make a big gain, or when to
be conservative – either could land you in trouble but I think I’ve played
the game quite well.
“It’s the
first racing I’ve done since Miami so it’s nice to come here and check in
with where everyone else is at, and keep working towards Aarhus.”
British
Sailing Team athletes will feature in all ten of tomorrow’s medal races.
British
49er FX crews Sophie Weguelin/Sophie Ainsworth and Charlotte Dobson/Saskia
Tidey qualified for the medal race in ninth and tenth after they finished
first and second respectively in the final race of the day.
In the 49er
fleet, reigning world champions Dylan Fletcher and Stuart Bithell go into
their medal race on top with a five-point lead over Argentina’s Yago and
Klaus Lange.
Hannah
Mills and Eilidh McIntyre sit second overall in the women’s 470 just four points
behind Japan’s Ai Kondo Yoshida and Miho Yoshioka, while a win in the final
fleet race for Amy Seabright and Anna Carpenter sees them start the medal
race in fifth.
Men’s 470
pair Luke Patience and Chris Grube will start their medal race in sixth overall,
while British Sailing Team windsurfers Kieran Martin and Emma Wilson will
feature in their respective RS:X class medal races.
Ben Saxton
and Nicola Boniface are guaranteed either silver or bronze in the Nacra 17.
The win was wrapped up today by Italian crew Ruggero Tita and Caterina Banti.
John Gimson
and Anna Burnett will join Saxton and Boniface in the medal race after
finishing fleet racing in tenth overall.
Ali Young
lies second overall in the Laser Radial fleet, while in the Laser Standard Michael
Beckett sits sixth with Nick Thompson tenth.
Full
results are available on the Princess Sofia Trophy website. The
Princess Sofia Trophy medal races will take place from 1100 local time (0900
GMT) tomorrow.
Follow all
the action at the British Sailing Team’s Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages.