LUCY Macgregor insists she is looking further afield than America as she prepares for a London 2012 dress rehearsal in Weymouth this week.

Poole trio Macgregor, her younger sister Kate and Annie Lush will line up at Skandia Sail for Gold on the Olympic waters for one more taste of battle prior to this summer’s Games.

The Dorset triumvirate are all preparing for their Olympic debuts but they have established themselves as genuine medal contenders, having won silver at last December’s World Championships in Perth, Australia.

They also finished second at last year’s Skandia Sail for Gold but the underlying problem is that, on both occasions, it was the American team led by Doncaster-born Anna Tunnicliffe that claimed gold.

But Macgregor believes it would be naive to picture London 2012 as a two-horse race and she says next week is all about fine-tuning rather than point-scoring.

Daily Echo columnist Macgregor said: “The Americans and us have had a lot of tussles and they have been doing really well recently, but it’s important not to just focus on them.

“The top four teams are all really tight so we certainly aren’t just focusing on USA and discounting the other teams, Russia and France, Australia. There are a lot of very good teams.

“Of course, we would love to get one over our rivals but it’s not everything to us.

“We are really looking forward to Sail for Gold. It is going to be almost identical to what it will be like at the Games and we have not had an event like that yet.”

• Investment specialist Skandia is the principal sponsor of the British sailing team. For more information, visit the website www.skandiateamgbr.com.