Nice Britain have been topped SailGP champions for the primary time by profitable Sunday’s three-way grand remaining in Abu Dhabi.

The British staff, led on the water by driver Dylan Fletcher, completed forward of three-time champions Australia in a winner-takes-all medal race to say the $2m (£1.5m) first prize, whereas New Zealand had been third.

Fletcher’s crew, which included two-time Olympic champion Hannah Mills as on-board strategist, had been trailing however overhauled Australia’s ‘Flying Roos’ and the New Zealand ‘Black Foils’ on the fourth leg.

“It is fairly unbelievable,” Fletcher, 37, instructed BBC Sport after main the staff to victory in his first season as driver.

“I’m simply actually pleased with the entire staff pulling collectively. We got here out firing as we speak.

“That remaining was simply how the SailGP championship has been unfolding – it is extremely tight between the entire prime groups and I am simply completely buzzing to take the win and beat the most effective of the most effective.”

The highest three boats within the general leaderboard following the 14-regatta season certified for the grand remaining.

The British Emirates GBR staff, which has four-time Olympic champion Ben Ainslie as its CEO, certified with the most effective general file of the 12 competing crews with 100 factors.

They had been eight factors forward of New Zealand, who had been additionally aiming for his or her first general title, whereas the Australians pipped final season’s champions Spain by simply 5 factors to seal their place because the third qualifier.

Mills, who received Olympic silver on the 2012 Video games in London earlier than claiming gold at Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020, used all her expertise to assist mastermind GB’s route from final place within the remaining to first over the end line.

“For us it was nearly staying cool, staying within the race, making the proper selections and ready for the chance,” stated the 37-year-old Welsh sailor.

“We did a fairly good job of staying cool as positively there was numerous stress on board.”

Ainslie, the staff chief, who will even be spearheading Britain’s problem for the 2027 America’s Cup, believes the debut SailGP title bodes effectively for the long run.

“These are the most effective sailors on the earth,” stated the 48-year-old.

“In simply over a 12 months’s time they’re going to be competing in Naples within the America’s Cup. It is going to be the identical expertise – be that within the America’s Cup or the Girls’s America’s Cup – and we wish to be on prime.”

Ainslie’s Ineos Britannia staff misplaced to New Zealand within the remaining of the 2024 America’s Cup. Britain has by no means received the trophy within the competitors’s 173-year historical past.