sport news Canada win New Zealand SailGP with Great Britain and France on collision course ... trends now
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Canada achieved their first-ever SailGP event win as they edged out home favourites New Zealand and championship leaders Australia in a gripping final race in Christchurch.
Their skipper Phil Robertson hails from New Zealand and was apologetic to his countrymen as his adopted team just about crossed the line in first place.
The outcome nonetheless left Australia and New Zealand strongly positioned to reach the winner-takes-all grand final race at the last event in San Francisco in May.
Which boat joins them in that final will come down to a battle between Great Britain and France in the finest of tradition.
The French boat of Quentin Delapierre will head to the city of the Golden Gate just one solitary point ahead of Sir Ben Ainslie's British crew in the overall classification - and someone is going to be left bitterly disappointed.
Canada claimed victory on the waters of Lyttelton Harbour, edging out New Zealand and Australia in a tight and tense finale to the weekend's racing
The Canadian skipper Phil Robertson hails from New Zealand and apologised to the local crowd after upsetting the Kiwi team
The nine boats in action on the waters of Lyttelton Harbour on the second day of racing
Britain enjoyed a consistent weekend here until a sixth-place finish in the fifth fleet race, following a sub-par start, saw them slip behind the Canadians on the leaderboard.
'We didn't do a good enough job of executing the starts today,' Ainslie said. 'We were actually in pretty good positions coming into both starts but didn't quite get it right.
'We got wound up with the French in that final start which didn't work out for us. The
