Scott builds commanding lead on fourth day of Finn Gold Cup

Giles Scott holds a commanding lead with two days of racing remaining in New Zealand ©British Sailing

Britain’s Giles Scott closed in on winning the Finn Gold Cup for the third time in his career after extending his lead over his nearest rival to 52 points after the fourth day of racing in Takapuna, New Zealand.

Scott held an 18-point advantage over Estonia’s Deniss Karpak overnight and, with a stronger wind enabling all three races to go ahead, the Briton sought to take advantage to move closer to the overall victory.

A solid opening race saw Scott finish in fourth place, with Sweden’s Max Salminen taking the victory after holding off New Zealand’s Josh Junior and Norway’s Anders Pedersen in the closing stages.

The Netherlands’ Pieter-Jan Postma earned a dominant win in the second event of the day, finishing well clear of Uruguayan sailor Alejandro Foglia, who ended as the runner-up.

However, it proved to be Scott’s worst result of the week as he ended in 15th position despite recovering from a poor start, although the points are currently discarded from his overall score.

A much better performance in the final race saw Scott claim second behind Greece’s Ioannis Mitakis, who earned his first win of the regatta having narrowly missed out on two other occasions.

Following the three results, Scott moved onto a total of 27 points and, with Slovenia’s Vasilij Zbogar some way adrift on 79, the Briton is the overwhelming favourite to claim the overall win with only three races remaining.

The top ten sailors at the close of tomorrow will advance to Sunday's medal race ©Facebook/2015 Finn Gold Cup

“Today was certainly a big day, three races of an hour plus is a big amount of loading,” Scott said afterwards.

“For me it went reasonably well - I had a bit of a sticky patch in the second race with just a really poor start.

"I lost track of where the line was and ended up following everyone in.

“I think I rounded the top mark about 45th.

“Other than that it was a solid day and I’ve extended my lead which is great for tomorrow.”

After winning the opening race of the day Sweden’s Salminen boosted his medal prospects and now lies one point behind Zbogar, while France’s Jonathan Lobert currently lies fourth on 83 points.

Two races are set to take place tomorrow, before the top 10 sailors advance to the medal race on Sunday (November 19) when the winner will be crowned.