Finn leader Railey eyes steady course

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.

The 24-year-old began the day in second place behind Poland’s Rafal Szukiel, but a pair of second-place finishes put him at the top of the field on 11 points after four races, five clear of British favourite Ben Ainslie.

Having never finished better than 19th at the Finn world championships, the Olympic debutant is naturally delighted with his performance so far in Qingdao.

“I’m really happy with the way the first four races went and hopefully I can keep it going,” said the Florida native.

“It’s a really long regatta and there’s a lot more racing left so hopefully I can just stay consistent and not have any big scores.

“I definitely just want to continue finishing in the top of the fleet. I think that if you can just be in the top 10, you can put yourself into a good position.

“You just have to stay consistent – that’s they key.”

With Ainslie in hot pursuit after edging Railey for victory in the last race of the day, the American knows that he cannot relax just yet.

But he does not want his focus to be affected by the Briton, who is attempting to win a fourth Olympic medal.

“It feels great to be leading at the Olympic Games but you can’t focus on one person though,” Railey said.

“Ben is having a really good regatta as well – he has two firsts and a fourth and he just got a bit unlucky in the first series.

“He’s been on form, he’s sailing really well and it’s a long event so I’ll just keep concentrating on myself and keep doing what I’m doing and hopefully keep putting good results up.”

Railey could have enjoyed an even bigger lead in the standings if he had held on for victory against Ainslie in race four, but he admitted that he was simply out-raced by the five-time world champion.

“He sailed really well on the last downwind,” the American explained.

“I tried everything that I could and I stayed to the left of him which I thought was the favourite side on the downwind, but he just sailed a little better than I did down towards the finish and got by me and won the race.

“That’s racing but I’ll take the second because that’s a good result for me.

“If you had told before I went out today that I could get two second-places, I would have told you that was a good result and I would be happy with that.”