Wright issues Ainslie warning after claiming Finn world title

By Sportsbeat staff

ED Wright laid down a marker to British rival Ben Ainslie by claiming his maiden world Finn title in San Francisco.

FLEETS AHEAD: Ed Wright flies the British flag after winning the Finn world title in San Francisco (Robert Deaves/IFA)

Ainslie will be seeking a fourth consecutive Olympic title at London 2012 but he faces plenty of domestic rivals for the one berth available in the competitive fleet.

In addition to Wright's gold, team-mate Giles Scott won bronze, while Spain's Rafael Trujillo took silver.

Wright, who also won the ISAF World Cup series, was delighted with the dominant nature of his victory, as he upgraded the bronze he won in 2006 with a winning margin of 32 points.

"It's just amazing, I'm so happy," he said. "I went to such lot of effort for this event.  

"I badly wanted to win the Worlds, so I pulled out all the stops and changed everything from my physique to my rig set up. It was all designed for the conditions we've had here.

"This is definitely the biggest thing that's happened to me in my sailing career and I want to go on and win it again in Perth next year." 

Olympic medallist Bryony Shaw missed out on a medal at the women's windsurfing World Championships - but she insisted she drew confidence from her best ever result at the event.

Shaw's Spanish training partner Blanca Manchon took gold while Italy's four-time Olympic medallist Alessandra Sensini claimed silver and France's Charlene Picon just pipped her British rival.

"It's frustrating to come so close but it's my best ever result so that's pleasing," said Shaw.

"I'm going to take lots of confidence from how I've been sailed this week. I've beat a couple of former world champions as well, so I'm in good company."

However, there was disappointment for British team-mate Nick Dempsey, who failed to defend his men's world title.

Dempsey has made no secret that all his focus is on London 2012 - with the majority of his training time now spent on home waters.

"I had my moments this week, but really it just came down to a lack of experience and time in the venue," he said.

"My focus for this year was always Skandia Sail for Gold in Weymouth, and having achieved my goal of a top three there I didn't come here with a performance target in mind," he said.

"The Worlds was really a secondary event for me and when you come to a World Championship with it as a secondary event you can't really expect to challenge."