Ben Ainslie, the triple Olympic medal-winner, will tomorrow be given the chance to defend his sailing title in the Finn class in China in August. The British Olympic Association will announce his name, along with other athletes who have become members of Team GB, in a conference call, arranged because several of those selected are training abroad.

It is believed that Ainslie, who was asked to compete in a series of regattas over the winter to prove that his skills in the dinghy have not lapsed while he has spent the past three years on the far larger America’s Cup boats, has already convinced the selectors that he will be Britain’s best chance of bringing home a third gold medal to go with the ones he won in Athens and Sydney, and the silver he won in 1996, in Atlanta.

Before Christmas, Ainslie brushed aside the competition at the Sydney International Regatta, winning six of the eight races. Ed Wright, his main British rival and the world No 3, finished in fifth place. While it is rough on Wright, the European champion in 2006, to miss out on the Olympics when he would have been a serious medal contender, countries may send only one sailor per class.

The conditions in Sydney were far more windy than they will be in Qingdao, the Olympic venue, but Ainslie showed he can handle lighter winds by winning two test regattas on the Chinese course in 2006 and 2007.

The Royal Yachting Association selectors had intended to see how Ainslie and Wright would fare against each other at the Finn Gold Cup that starts in Melbourne at the end of the month and at regattas in Spain and France this spring, but Ainslie, who is the skipper for Great Britain’s entry in the next America’s Cup, has seemingly convinced them that he is the best in both large and small boats.

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