All eyes on Ainslie

The RYA's Sacha Oswald looks ahead to the Finn world championship which starts on Sunday

In the two years that Olympic sailor and 'Team Volvo for Life' member Ben Ainslie has competed in the Finn class he has won every major event in the class and next week will see him try and make it a hat trick at the 2004 world championships.

The double Olympic medallist, who competed at the 1996 and 2000 Olympic Games in the Laser, switched to the larger Finn class in 2002 and since his transition has twice won the world and European championships and both of the Athens Olympic Test Events. With six months to go until the 2004 Games this world championships will be one of his greatest tests yet.

The event has attracted the worlds best Finn sailors and some of Ainslie's greatest rivals, including the 1996 Olympic champion Mateusz Kusznierewicz of Poland who is currently ranked number two in the world behind Ainslie, and last year's world championship runner up, Rafael Trujillo of Spain. Other top names amongst the line up include the 2000 Olympic Silver medallist Luca Devoti of Italy and the 1996 Olympic runner up Sebastien Godefroid from Belgium.

Competing alongside Ainslie will be fellow RYA Team GBR sailor Andrew Simpson who finished behind his training partner at the previous world championships, taking home the bronze medal. Also racing at the event are Charlie Cumbley, who finished sixteenth at the 2003 world championships, and Matt Howard.

RYA Olympic Manager Stephen Park commented, "Although Ben has won all of the major championships in the Finn class since he stepped into the boat, winning the world championships in the Olympic year is always a tough challenge. He has three obstacles to overcome to retain his title, tide, wind and the world class competition, and if he pulls it off it will be one of the biggest wins of his career."

The event gets underway on Sunday 15 February, with the racing taking place at Guanabara Bay, and continues through until Friday 20 February.

Latest entry list:

1	Aaron O'Grady
2	Agustin Juarez
3	Alejandro Colla
4	Alfredo Schilling
5	Ali Enver Adakan
6	Andrew Simpson
7	Anthony Nassiter
8	Balazs Hajdu
9	Ben Ainslie
10	Bruno Ismael
11	Bruno Prada
12	Charlie Cumbley
13	Christopher M. Cook
14	Cristoph Burger
15	David Burrows
16	Dean Baker
17	Dewitt T. Pettis Jr.
18	Eller Michael
19	Emilios Papathanassiou
20	Fabio Bodra
21	Gasper Vincec
22	Guillaume Florent
23	Jaap Zielhuis
24	Johan Tillander
25	Jonas Hoegh Cristensen
26	Jorge Zarif
27	Karlo Kuret
28	Luca Devoti
29	Marin Misura
30	Mateusz Kusznierewicz
31	Mauricio Bueno
32	Michael Fellmann
33	Michael Maier
34	Michele Marchesini
35	Mike Milner
36	Nenad Viali
37	Othmar Mueller von Blumencron
38	Philippe Kahn
39	Rafael Trujillo
40	Ricardo R. Anderson
41	Richard Clarke
42	Rodrick Casander
43	Roman Babicky
44	Sander Willems
45	Sebastien Godefroid
46	Soren Holm
47	Stefan de Vries
48	Tapio Nirkko
49	Tibor Pallay
50	Waclaw Szukiel
51	Youen Jacob