Britain’s sporting heroes will be saluted today as a huge precession snakes its way through the streets of London.

Annalise Murphy, the Irish Laser Radial sailor, will need to hold her nerve and sail her best race ever today to win Ireland’s first Olympic sailing medal since 1980, the first ever sailing medal for a female sailor.

Disappointment added to disappointment for the beleaguered Irish Star duo of Peter O’Leary and David Burrows.

Great Britain’s Ben Ainslie became the most successful sailor in Olympic history after today securing a fourth successive gold medal.

Ireland’s best remaining hope of a sailing medal, Annalise Murphy, goes into her final two Laser Radial fleet races today in second place.

Chris Hoy is set to be named later today as the flagbearer for Team GB at Friday’s opening ceremony of the London Olympics.

Richard Branson abandoned his record attempt to cross the Atlantic in a single-hulled vessel today.

In sailing, Ireland’s Ciara Peelo lies 25th overall after scoring a 23rd in Race 1 and 17th in Race 2 today in the women’s single-handed Laser Radial class.

WHILE Britain’s dominant Olympic sailors marched to lead two of the three classes which have started racing on Fushan Bay off Qingdao, Ireland’s Finn sailor Tim Goodbody lies in 18th place overall after four races.

American Zach Railey stressed the importance of staying consistent after taking the lead in the overall standings of the Finn class on the second day of the Olympic sailing regatta on today.

Olympic swimmer Andrew Bree failed to qualify from his 100m breaststroke heat despite a personal best time of 1:01.76.

British Formula One star Lewis Hamilton was involved in an another high speed collision – but this time it was on the water in the JP Morgan Asset Management Round the Island Race.

EAMMON CONNEELY has completed a clean sweep of all the major trophies at Skandia Cowes Week after adding the New York Yacht Club Challenge Trophy to his haul.

WITH a pair of first places from two starts at Skandia Cowes Week, Dublin’s Colm Barrington’s Ker 39 Flying Glove is the best of the Irish entries so far at the massive annual regatta on the Solent.

Malahide sailor David Burrows slipped from a starting 14th to 22nd in the 11th and final race of the Finn class in Athens this afternoon, finishing 12th overall, 78 points behind British gold medallist Ben Ainslie.

In the Finn sailing class, Irishman David Burrows has dropped two places to 12th after being disqualified in race seven.

Yesterday, Irishman David Burrows enjoyed a successful day in the Finn class, moving up to 10th place in the standings.

Irish sailor David Burrows is now in 10th place in the Finn class, after finishing 18th in race five and claiming an impressive second place in race six.

Ireland's David Burrows registered an impressive third-place finish in race four of the Finn class yesterday and will be looking to build on that when the action gets underway today.

British sailor Ben Ainslie was today tipped to become one of the all-time great Olympians.

By Andi Robertson, DOUBLE Olympic Medallist Ben Ainslie made a key difference to the fortunes of David MacLean's Welsh flagged IC 45 Babbalaas in the showcase IRM High Performance Class at Ford Cork Week yesterday as light winds continued to affect racing.