BEN Ainslie held his nerve in the Qingdao gloom yesterday to consolidate his position at the top of the Olympic Finn class standings.

The Lymington-based star finished the day six points clear of second-placed American Zach Railey on 19 points after a second in race seven yesterday.

The 31-year-old was over two minutes behind Ivan Kljakovic-Gaspic in race seven but with Railey finishing seventh and Guillaume Florent of France in fourth, the Briton managed to extend his advantage at the top of the standings.

Ainslie, who is gunning for a third consecutive Olympic gold medal, said: "It was a long day on the water and a very difficult race so I'm relieved to have come away with a good result.

"Guillaume and Zach are both sailing very consistently and got some good results as well so it's not that easy to shake them off.

"It's just a case of trying as best I could to cover them and trying to hold on to second place."

With the end of the competition in sight, Ainslie defended his decision to race in a more conservative fashion yesterday, following a two-hour delay due to light winds.

"It plays on your mind a little bit more as you get closer to the end of the event and certainly when the conditions are as random as that," he added.

"When you're not 100 per cent sure what's actually going to pay, I think you're better off staying with the opposition rather than giving them an opportunity.

"The wind was very, very light out there on the course and it was a little bit scary at times.

"It was probably the lightest day's sailing we've had so far and when it's that light, any change in wind in percentage terms has that much more effect on the fleet. So if you get slightly more breeze than the other boats you can make a huge gain."

With today's racing in the Finn class also being cancelled due to stormy weather in Qingdao, Ainslie will be hoping for brighter skies tomorrow ahead of Saturday's medal race.

  • Meanwhile, fellow Lymington sailor Nick Rogers and team-mate Joe Glanfield moved back into contention for a 470 class medal yesterday.

The Athens silver medallists started the day in fifth place overall after a horrendous opening race on Monday, but continued their form from Tuesday to finish ninth in race five and sixth in race six.

Having nullified their 19th place finish from Monday, the duo are now comfortably placed on 25 points - one behind second-placed France and eight adrift of leaders Australia going into today's rest day.