It would be easy for Ed Wright to be bitter. The world No2 in the Finn class before the Olympic Games last year, Wright was denied a chance to compete in Beijing because the one place that Great Britain could allocate was given to Ben Ainslie, the king over the water in more ways than one.

Ainslie had two Olympic gold medals but had barely raced in a Finn between 2005 and the end of 2007, save for two test regattas on the Olympic course in Qingdao, both of which he won. He was given four international events to prove his worth and won them all. Wright came second twice, fifth and seventh and so lost his ticket to China. It was tough, but fair.

If he moaned in private, Wright was the model professional in public. He went to Qingdao to help Ainslie to train for the Games, saw his rival win his third gold and resolved that come 2012 he would be the one competing.

There is a long way to go, but Wright has started 2009 well. After four of the seven World Cup regattas this season he is in first place, having finished second in Majorca and Hyères, France, last month and first in Miami in January in a strong field.

The trouble is that as well as Ainslie's possible return in 2011 after the America's Cup, Wright, 31, has younger Britons gaining in his wake. Giles Scott, 21, won the Majorca World Cup, while Andrew Mills, 23, is eighth in the World Cup standings. Truly Britain rules the waves.

For Wright, the competition in the Skandia-sponsored team is welcome. “We all work together and push each other along,” he said. “That's what makes it so tight between us because you've always got someone in the team pushing you farther.”

Stephen Park, the Royal Yachting Association's Olympic manager, says that the quantity and quality of young Britons in the Finn helped Ainslie to win in Beijing. “He was keen on having a strong squad so that he could train with them rather than using foreign training partners,” he said. “The challenge for these guys now is to get as much racing as they can and get used to performing in the front of the fleet. That will build their confidence and make a huge difference.”

Wright and Scott started out in the Laser class, in which Ainslie won silver at the 1996 Olympics and gold in 2000, but switched to the Finn because of the 80kg limit for sailors. “It was hard to keep under weight, I'm naturally about 95kg,” Wright said. “I had to starve myself, I was lucky if I could have a lettuce leaf.”

Scott says that the Finn has an undeserved reputation as “an old man's boat, a boat for fat guys” but at 6ft 5in he was never going to remain in a Laser. Wright is shorter but more powerfully built; he builds up his strength by long-distance cycling.

He was never tempted to try a different class and avoid the Ainslie challenge. “I really love the Finn,” Wright said. “It is a perfect boat for racing. You need to be physically fit and powerful to sail it, but you also need to know all about sails and rigs and be tactically good. It is the complete boat.”

Neither Scott nor Wright took to the sport immediately. Wright was first placed in a boat by his father at the age of 3 and recalls a miserable experience. “I literally put my head under the bow and cried the whole time,” he said. Scott never wanted to race. “I just wanted to go backwards and forwards fast,” he said. “I never liked sailing round buoys.”

Wright acknowledges the debt he owes to Ainslie. “He was there for me when I started in the Finn in 2005 and he was a great help,” he said. “But there will be a sail-off to decide who goes to the next Olympics and I hope I'll be a step ahead of him.”

Scott is desperate to beat both the “old men” ahead of him in the pecking order. And it could be more than a three-man race.

Park says that he will finalise a qualification process for 2012 as early as November. As he says, though: “If you win everything you compete in, it doesn't matter what anyone else does”.