Ben Ainslie's GB team claim victory in SailGP season-opener in Bermuda

Image source, Bob Martin for SailGP

Image caption, Ben Ainslie also took part in the America's Cup in February with Team Ineos

Ben Ainslie's Great Britain team won the opening event of SailGP season in Bermuda after beating Australia by just four seconds in the podium race.

Australia had won four of the previous five races before Ainslie's team took the winner-takes-all final.

"It was a cracking race," said Ainslie, who won the first of his four Olympic gold medals in Sydney 21 years ago.

"It's what we want to do it for, go against the top sailors in the world in conditions like this - it was perfect."

The global racing league, which was launched in 2019, sees teams racing wingsailed F50s at events around the world.

It culminates in two teams facing off in a season-ending event for a prize of $1m (拢720,720).

Australia won the first season in 2019 before season two was postponed last year because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The next leg of the season is in Taranto, Italy (5-6 June) before races in Plymouth, Aarhus in Denmark, France's Saint-Tropez and and Cadiz in Spain.

The season ends in 2022 with races in Christchurch, New Zealand and the Grand Final in San Francisco on 26 March.

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Standings

1. Great Britain - 10 pts

2. Australia - 9 pts

3. France - 8 pts

4. Spain - 7 pts

5. New Zealand - 6 pts

6. Denmark - 5 pts

7. Japan - 4 pts

8. United States - 3 pts