Sir Ben Ainslie wants Britain to maintain momentum in America’s Cup

October 17, 2024

Sir Ben Ainslie has called for Great Britain to push on once again as they look to further dent New Zealand’s lead when racing resumes in the America’s Cup on Friday.

Ineos Britannia won both races in Barcelona on Wednesday to close the gap back down to two points.

It was, though, down to fine margins again as Ainslie’s crew claimed Britain’s first America’s Cup point since 1934 before then holding off a gutsy comeback by New Zealand in the second race of the day to make it 4-2 in the first-to-seven series.

Ainslie had made a point to highlight the collective drive from the entire Ineos Britannia set-up, both on and off the water through the work of their designers, technicians and engineers.

“It was a big team effort to make some performance gains,” said Ainslie, who won the America’s Cup as part of Team USA in 2013. “We need to keep pushing.”

Trimmer Leigh McMillan believes Wednesday’s double victory will have lifted confidence Great Britain can continue to eat into New Zealand’s advantage.

Can Ineos Britannia continue to eat into the lead of Emirates Team New Zealand? (Emilio Morenatti/AP) (AP)

“It is great to get a couple of wins under the belt,” McMillan said. “New Zealand have set the bar pretty high and we feel like we are clawing into them now.

“We are looking forward to getting back out there on Friday and keeping the pressure on and momentum going.”

A British boat has never won the America’s Cup, but Ainslie’s crew overcame Italy 7-4 in the Louis Vuitton Cup series to qualify for the showpiece event for the first time since 1964.

Despite Britain’s resurgence, New Zealand remain favourites to retain the trophy and deliver a third successive America’s Cup success.

“Ultimately, it is a long way to go still,” said New Zealand co-helm Nathan Outteridge. “We have got to win three and they have got to win five now, so it is closer, but there are still plenty of races to go.”

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