Giles Scott dismisses Ben Ainslie comparisons

Sailor Giles Scott has insisted he is up to the task of filling the void left by Olympic champion Sir Ben Ainslie, but dismissed comparisons with him.

European champion Scott, 26, hopes to replace four-time Olympic champion Ainslie, whom he missed out to for London 2012, in the Finn class.

Ainslie has retired from Olympic sailing to concentrate on the America's Cup, leaving the path clear for Scott.

"I'm not the next Ben Ainslie, and never will be," Scott said.

Scott, who was world champion in 2011, has dominated the Finn class at this week's Sail For Gold regatta at Weymouth and Portland.

He was involved in a intense battle with Ainslie two years ago to win Olympic selection and admitted to still being haunted at missing out to the man he feels is the greatest sailor of all time.

"Weymouth is where I live," Scott told BBC South Today. "It's where I lost the Olympic trials and it's where I watched the Games.

"It's saddening to think that has now past and it was an opportunity missed but I can only use that as fuel to make sure I do not make the same mistakes this time around.

"There is no point dwelling on it now. It was fair and square. I lost the trials to Ben and you can't complain about that. It's purely a source of fuel to get me through to Rio."

Later this year the World Championships take place in Spain, but with the Rio Olympics now two years away he is eager to play down comparisons with Ainslie.

"I'm Giles Scott," he said. "I'm far too old already to get anywhere near the tally he has got but for sure there is a lot I want to achieve in sailing and hopefully the best is still to come.

"There is no denying he is the greatest sailor to date and I'm sure that will remain the case for a long time. He is an inspiration for a lot of people including myself.

"When we were racing against each other it was very fraught, we would not give each other an inch and lot of strong words spoken to each other.

Scott added: "Rio is absolutely where I want to be but he (Ainslie) is not the only good sailor in the world. There is an international fleet out there who constantly want to win regattas and are putting a lot of effort to do so and we have to up our game."