Giles Scott determined to cap dream year with America’s Cup glory

Olympic sailing champion Giles Scott admits winning the America’s Cup this summer would cap a dream year.

Scott secured gold in the Finn class at Rio 2016 last August to banish the disappointment of missing out on qualification for London 2012.

Sir Ben Ainslie pipped the now 29-year-old to the one Team GB spot up for grabs five years ago to claim his fourth Olympic gold on home waters. However, the pair have joined forces in an attempt to bring the America’s Cup back to Britain aboard Land Rover BAR – a team founded by Ainslie.

Four-time world champion Scott had little time to relax after his Olympic success as he immediately joined Ainslie’s crew in the America’s Cup World Series. Scott now finds himself in Bermuda assisting his one-time rival in pursuit of America’s Cup glory but he insists he is driven by a personal desire.

Scott told Press Association Sport: “I’ve obviously won an Olympic gold and then, off the back of that, moved straight into the America’s Cup World Series. We won that, which was amazing for us, and now we’re into the nitty-gritty and the real important stuff of the America’s Cup.

“The opportunity to win this in such a short space of time – you don’t get opportunities like that often and you have to make the most of them. It would cap the dream year.”

Ainslie’s six-man vessel – which includes tactician Scott – has come a long way since the team’s inception back in 2012. Friday marks the start of the America’s Cup qualifiers, a process which could last until June 12 in order to determine the challengers to defending champions Oracle Team USA.

Should Land Rover BAR navigate their way through to the America’s Cup showdown, which starts from June 17, their chances of success in Bermuda will rely heavily on the relationship between helmsman Ainslie and Scott.

“I do have a huge amount of respect and admiration for him, of course,” said Scott, speaking from Land Rover BAR’s base on the tiny island in the North Atlantic. “The way that I simply break it down is I wouldn’t be as good of a sailor now had I not been through the history that we had in trying to qualify for that one Olympic spot.

“It’s water under the bridge. It’s great to have that history behind us, knowing how each other responds in high-tempo environments. We talk a lot more frankly to one another than we did back then, but in terms of all the stuff away from sailing it was very amicable back then and it still is now.

“We’re both trying to get the exact same thing done. He’s got an awful lot on his plate, and I suppose all of us as sailors will just try and help out in our own way to get the job done.”