Ainslie vs. Scott features among the great modern British rivalries

By Ben Baker, Sportsbeat

Coe vs Ovett, Benn vs Eubank, Ainslie vs Scott? This Saturday witnessed a fine British rivalry unravel at the Skandia Sail for Gold Regatta - and it went right down to the wire.

WAR OF ATTRITION: Ben Ainslie and Giles Scott enjoyed a week-long rivalry at the Skandia Sail for Gold Regatta in Weymouth last week (onEdition)

Now I was too young to properly enjoy the previous head-to-heads first hand, but this new match-up certainly is another heavyweight battle - albeit fought out in heavyweight dinghies.

In the blue corner we had triple-Olympic Finn champion Ben Ainslie, facing off against young pretender and defending champion Giles Scott in the other.

And at the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy last week the two went toe-to-toe in a six-day regatta with the sole London 2012 spot up for grabs.

Unlike many of the other Olympic sports, Skandia Team GBR are only able to send one British boat for each of the 13 classes, including three Paralympic classes.

And this hardly seems fair considering that at Sail for Gold five British 49er boats made it into the top ten, with four fighting it out for a Finn medal.

But the two to steal the spotlight were undoubtedly Ainslie and Scott as experience and youthful exuberance duked it out.

Ainslie won five of the ten contests before Saturday's medal race, but it didn't have it all his own way as Scott pushed him harder than he had ever been pushed before.

But Ainslie's skill told in the medal race, defending a 16-point lead over second-placed Scott by marking his young rival and making sure he finished down the pack.

This not only ensured that Ainslie came away with the gold, but also wrapped up that all-important Olympic test event spot on England's south coast in August, kick-starting his quest for a fifth Games medal.

First blow Ainslie.

But when the Weymouth waters had calmed, Ainslie admitted he had been pushed to his limit.

"It was a close medal race with Giles Scott, battling it out for the overall victory so it ended up being a match race and my match racing skills helped me out but Giles is a fantastic sailor, he's very tough to beat and I'm relieved to have come out on top," Ainslie said.

"I certainly wasn't underestimating the challenge, and there is always some kind of pressure in the race especially when there is so much at stake so it was interesting.

" The start went well and I was in control and I managed to put it away from there but I'm pretty tired now and I'm looking forward to a week off because this was one of the hardest regattas I have ever done.

"Then it all starts again here in six weeks' time for the Olympic test event so there is still plenty more to do as I need to put on another good performance there."

But it wasn't just Ainslie and Scott who shone at the London 2012 venue, Skandia Team GBR's sailors bagging a medal-haul of nine during the week.

Olympic bronze medallist windsurfer Nick Dempsey came away with gold, as did the Sonar team of John Robertson, Hannah Stodel and Steve Thomas.

Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark won the Battle of Britain against Penny Clark and Katrina Hughes, winning silver and a return for the Olympic test event, while they were joined on the second step of the podium by Niki Birrell and Alexandra Rickham in the Skud 18 and the Women's Match Racing team of Lucy and Kate Macgregor and Annie Lush.

Stevie Morrison and Ben Rhodes came out on top in the intense 49er battle, winning bronze, as did Paul Goodison in the Laser class, who insists the experience whetted his appetite for defending his 2008 Beijing gold.

"The more time we spend in Weymouth, the more excited everybody gets," he said. "Sail for Gold almost felt like it could well be the Olympics.

"With the atmosphere around and everybody there - everybody is sailing flat out to try and win and it's just going to get more exciting as we get closer to the Games."

So in an era where a British tennis player simply refuses to win Wimbledon, and England's football team continue to falter on the big stage, it is great to see our sporting prowess lives on in sailing.

Ainslie might have taken one step closer to London 2012 but Scott isn't about to back down - this one is far from over.

Investment specialist Skandia is the principal sponsor of the British sailing team. For more information go to www.skandiateamgbr.com