Swiss celebrate America’s Cup win

YACHTING: Alinghi won the America’s Cup with a crushing 5-0 clean sweep of Team New Zealand yesterday completing an “impossible” quest to take sport’s oldest trophy to Europe for the first time.

With equipment failures again dogging Team New Zealand’s campaign, the Swiss yacht crossed the line 45 seconds ahead of the Kiwis to win race five in the best-of-nine finals series.

Team New Zealand trailed Alinghi throughout and any hope of closing the gap were dashed when a spinnaker pole broke shortly after the half-way mark.

Alinghi syndicate head Ernesto Bertarelli danced a jig on the yacht’s deck after crossing the finish line. Bertarelli, a biotech billionaire who has poured more than a hundred million US dollars into the Alinghi campaign, admitted he was surprised by the emphatic scoreline.

“That makes 152 years of history when the cup never came to Europe,” Bertarelli said. “It’s unbelievable, I never would have believed it. “At 5-0 there’s no question, we have the fastest boat, the best team, we’re winners.”