PERTH (Australia), Dec 5: British sailor Ben Ainslie made an impressive entrance as the action hotted up on the third day of the ISAF Sailing World Championships in Western Australia on Monday.

Although it was the third straight day of scorching local temperatures for the competitors, with the mercury again in the mid-30s Celsius (mid-90s Fahrenheit), it was the first day of racing for competitors in four classes.

There was only women’s match racing on the opening two days, but four more Olympic classes were in action Monday: women’s windsurfing, 470 men, Finn men and women’s Laser Radial, all racing for the first time in the Championships.

All four classes were split into two divisions due to the number of competitors.

The start of the day was slightly delayed as organisers waited for the local sea breeze to arrive, but Ainslie, regarded as one of the greatest ever Olympic sailors, wasted no time imposing himself in the Finn class yellow fleet.

Although ranked 31st in the world due to a lack of recent racing, Ainslie is the reigning Olympic champion after claiming his third gold medal in Beijing in 2008 and is seeking to defend his title on home territory in London next year.

He won both races in the yellow fleet, while countryman and world number one Edward Martin Wright came eighth and second in the same races.

In the women’s match racing, Group A action continued, with Finland’s Silja Lehtinen setting the pace, and she remains unbeaten after 10 races.

Lehtinen, ranked ninth in the world, was the only sailor in the fleet unbeaten after two days of competition.

World number one and 2011 ISAF World Sailor of the Year Anna Tunnicliffe from the USA, had six wins from seven races, while Australian world number eight Nicky Souter boasted seven wins and just one loss.

Standings on Monday: Women’s Match Racing - Group A (top six): Silja Lehtinen (FIN) 10pts; Stephanie Hazard (NZL), Ekaterina Skudina (RUS), Nicky Souter (AUS) 7pts; Silke Hahlbrock (GER), Anna Tunnicliffe (USA) 6pts.

Group B (top six): Lucy Macgregor (GBR), Renee Groeneveld (NED), Olivia Price (AUS), Mandy Mulder (NED) 3pts; Claire Leroy (FRA), Tamara Echegoyen (ESP) 2pts.

Laser Radial women (top six): Evi van Acker (BEL) 2pts; Veronika Fenclova (CZE) 4pts; Marit Bouwmeester (NED) 5pts; Paige Railey (USA) 10pts; Maiken Foght Schutt (DEN) 11pts; Gintare Scheidt (LTU) 12pts.

Finn (top six): Ben Ainslie (GBR) 2pts; Rafael Trujillo (ESP) 4pts; Zach Railey (USA) 7pts; Ivan Kljakovic Gaspic (CRO), Daniel Birgmark (SWE), Giles Scott (GBR) 9pts.

Women’s windsurfing (top five): Lee Korzits (ISR), Bryony Shaw (GBR) 5pts; Laura Linares (ITA) 6pts; Huang Yue (CHN), Zhu Huali (CHN) 9pts.

Men’s 470 (top five): Joonas Lindgren/Niklas Lindgren (FIN) 3pts; Luke Patience/Stuart Bithell (GBR) 6pts; Tetsuya Matsunaga/Kimihiko Imamura (JPN) 7pts; Mathew Belcher/Malcolm Page (AUS), Paul Snow Hansen/Jason Saunders (NZL) 10pts.—AFP