Last year Olympic champion Ainslie won the European championships after only five months of sailing in the class, since then he has gone on to win the world championships, the 2002 Olympic test event and more recently SPA Olympic classes regatta as well as qualifying his place to represent Great Britain at the Pre-Olympics.

Currently 84 boats have entered the event including a number of past European, world and Olympic champions and competition could come from a number of sailors all capable of challenging Ainslie for the title. Olympian Sebastien Godfroid of Belgium has had a good start to the year winning both Palma and Hyeres Olympic classes regattas. The 1996 gold medallist Mateusz Kusznierewicz of Poland is also a strong contender as is the world number one and Hyeres bronze medallist Karlo Kuret from Croatia and the 2001 European champion Emilios Papathanasiou of Greece.

Other Team GBR sailors that will be looking for a good result in Sweden are Andrew Simpson who is currently ranked number six in the world, last years Junior European champion Chris Brittle and Charlie Cumbley, who finished eleventh at this event last year.

RYA Olympic Manager Stephen Park commented, `the exceedingly high calibre of the fleet will mean that Ben has his work cut out to defend his European title and an observer should not expect this to be a walk in the park based on Ben's recent success. Eyes will also be on Andrew Simpson who now seems to have resolved his most recent equipment troubles and could surprise many at the end of the week.`

Racing will be held on the Marstrand fjord just north of the island of Marstrand and commences on Friday 6 June through until Wednesday June 11. A maximum of two races will be sailed per day. Daily results can be found at http://www.gkss.se/. Results will be put out as a daily media advisory, with a final event report issued on the last day.

Source: Sacha Oswald