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Team GB secure Yngling gold

  • Team GB: Olympic Champions

    Team GB: Olympic Champions

"It's been brilliant and it just kind of highlights what our campaign has been about - pure perfection."

Sarah Ayton

Yngling:
Gold:
Britain
Silver:
Netherlands
Bronze:
Greece

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Britain secured gold in the Yngling class as Sarah Ayton, Sarah Webb and Pippa Wilson held their nerve to seal a highly anticipated victory.

Poor weather conditions had delayed all events at the sailing regatta, but while Ben Ainslie's own bid for gold remains on hold in the Finn class, the Team GB trio followed up their world and European titles with a win in Beijing.

The team held a slender one point advantage going in to the final race, finishing fifth behind their closest rivals Netherlands in the final preliminary race.

However, they took the lead one second ahead of their opponents and, while they were overtaken by Germany as the race progressed, the Dutch had dropped back to sixth-place.

It was, though, immaterial as Team GB regained the lead in the final run to the finish line, sealing victory seven seconds ahead of second-placed Germany and with it retaining their Olympic crown.

Brilliant

"It's been brilliant and it just kind of highlights what our campaign has been about - pure perfection," Ayton told the BBC.

"You cannot describe what Sarah and I have been through for the last four years, and two for Pippa. It has been incredible.

"We are an awesome team and today's proved that. So we're happy."

Wilson, who joined Ayton and Webb after the duo's gold in Athens four years ago, was overwhelmed with her first Olympic medal.

"This has been the dream and it hasn't really sunk in," she added.

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