New Zealand takes 2-0 lead over Britain in America’s Cup first-to-seven final

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Emirates Team New Zealand showed why it is the two-time defending America’s Cup champion after jumping out to a 2-0 lead over INEOS Britannia in their first-to-seven-wins final on Saturday.

As the defender, the Kiwis sat out the playoff rounds with a guaranteed spot in the final. But the yacht skippered by Peter Burling showed no rust despite a month of zero competitive sailing and New Zealand comfortably won both opening races.

New Zealand led the first race from the start and finished 41 seconds and more than 400 meters ahead. The second race featured a pair of lead changes until Taihoro found more wind midway through, crossing 300 meters and 27 seconds in front of Britannia.

New Zealand is trying to win the Auld Mug, the oldest trophy in international sport, for a third straight time. The Brits have never won it in its 173-year history.

“This is what we have been working three years for,” New Zealand helmsman Nathan Outteridge said after winning the first race. “We have been a long time in preparation watching everyone else racing, so it was great to get a fantastic start and control that race. Let’s just keep our eyes focused forward.”

New Zealand got a haka sendoff from supporters and shore crew and was accompanied out of Barcelona port by an ornamentally carved Maori waka (canoe). The team headed by Grant Dalton is aiming to become the first syndicate to ever win three consecutive times. As a nation, New Zealand has won four times (1995, 2000, 2017, 2021).

The Kiwis participated in the initial round-robin even though their results didn’t count, and then they practiced, plotted and analyzed the competition.

“We did a lot of work making sure we are ready to go,” Burling said after going up 2-0.

The British are participating in their first final in six decades.

Britannia is backed by billionaire Jim Ratcliffe and has a partnership with the Mercedes Formula 1 team, with which it shares design, engineering and performance teams. That contrasts with the in-house design team of New Zealand, which is credited with revolutionizing sailing with its design of the AC75 monohull foiling yacht.

Britannia impressed in the challengers regatta as it bested four other boats from Italy, the United States, Switzerland and France. It set an America’s Cup speed record of 55.6 knots (64 mph/102 kph) last week.

But they will have to get even more out of their boat if they want to beat the holders.

“It’s obviously not the start we were looking for. But credit to the Kiwis. They sailed two really good races,” skipper Ben Ainslie said. “It is interesting to see Team New Zealand making the jump since the round-robin, or it sure looks like that. But that again is the game we are in. we will just keep plugging away and looking for those gains.”

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Joseph Wilson, The Associated Press