Dylan Fletcher’s Britain defeated Giles Scott’s Canada in an exciting final on Sydney Harbour on Sunday to win the third round of SailGP and extend their lead in the series standings.

Australia with Tom Slingsby as the skipper had won three out of seven fleet races but was penalized for invading the Canadians during the pre-start to the three-boat shooting match for the title. They were unable recover.

Canada was in a significant lead going into the fifth upwind leg of the seven-leg final. But Britain overtook them and edged ahead around Shark Island. Fletcher then held off fellow British Olympic Champion Morris to be the first to cross the finish line.

The British team won their first event since the Canadian round of last season when Morris was in charge. They also extended their lead to Australia on the top of the standings by three points.

Fletcher said he was "absolutely buzzing" to win the race, having returned to the British boat after driving for the team during the first season of SailGP 2019

"We won the starting but after that you know, we made big mistakes. It was a fantastic race for spectators and a great one for us. I'm stoked."

Morris was disappointed that his team lost a large lead in the final, but pleased to have led them to the podium for the very first time this year.

He said, "I think today was an incredible day." "We have to be extremely happy with our second place. "I'm sitting here with a few what ifs."

The British were able to pick up a big mid-shift in the right hand side.

The defending series champions Spain suffered a disappointing pair of days in Sydney Harbour's variable winds, but they still managed to move into third place on the standings. New Zealand was seven points behind Britain.

Peter Burling’s New Zealand boat won the first leg of the season in Dubai. After a bad day, the New Zealand boat recovered to finish second behind Britain in the first race on Sunday and win the second.

The New Zealanders will be boosted in confidence for the fourth stop of the series on 16-17 March in Los Angeles.

Burling said, "It's a shame that we didn't score any points yesterday in the last two races. But it was amazing to see how the team bounced right back." (Reporting and editing by William Mallard; Reporting by Nick Mulvenney)

(source: Reuters)