Ben Ainslie reins Jonas Hogh-Christensen in to boost Olympic gold medal chances

 

Simon Peach
Thursday 02 August 2012 10:18 EDT
Comments
Ben Ainslie in action in Weymouth
Ben Ainslie in action in Weymouth (GETTY IMAGES)

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Three-time gold medallist Ben Ainslie stepped up his gold medal charge today by dramatically cutting Jonas Hogh-Christensen's lead at the top of the Finn standings.

The 35-year-old came into his fifth Olympics as overriding favourite to top the podium, but failed to finish ahead of the Dane in the first six races.

However, Ainslie returned from a rest day seemingly reinvigorated and quickly went about narrowing the Dane's 10-point gap at the top of the overall standings.

Ainslie got off to his best start of the Games in race seven on the choppy waters of Weymouth Bay and rounded the first mark in the lead.

He continued to head the fleet into the third leg, where overall leader Hogh-Christensen capsized and dropped down to 15th.

The Dane recovered superbly to finish in eighth but could only watch on as Ainslie won the race by 21 seconds.

The six-time Finn world champion continued in the same vein of form in the day's second race, overcoming a relatively sluggish start to beat Hogh-Christensen to third spot after a superb final downwind leg.

Ainslie seemed to gesticulate towards the Dane's boat at the end of the race after cutting his lead at the top down to three points.

PA

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in