Ben Ainslie has made a promising start in his bid for fourth Olympic Gold medal at London 2012.

Ainslie, who grew up in the Falmouth area, finished second in Sunday's opening two races in the Finn class.

However, he trails Jonas Hogh Christensen, by two points, after the Dane finished both races in first.

The competitors will compete in ten races over the next week, before the top ten compete in a medal shootout race on Sunday, August 5.

In the opening race, Ainslie rounded the first mark outside the top 10, although produced a superb downwind leg to move up to third place.

Ainslie dropped down to sixth heading around the third mark, but again shone downwind to turn in third position.

He also entered the final leg in that position and, while unable to find a way to catch Hogh-Christensen, he saw off Croatia's Ivan Kljakovic Gaspic to secure second place.

In the second race of the day, Ainslie got off to a brighter start, but found himself behind the in-form Hogh-Christensen once more.

The Finn class racing will take place again tomorrow, with two more races.

Race 1 - top ten finishers:

1 DEN HOGH-CHRISTENSEN Jonas 52:37

+  2 GBR AINSLIE Ben +0:17

+  3 CRO KLJAKOVIC GASPIC Ivan +0:25

+  4 GRE MITAKIS Ioannis +0:57

+  5 NED POSTMA Pieter-Jan +0:59

+  6 AUT RAUDASCHL Florian +1:09

+  7 NZL SLATER Dan +1:30

+  8 SLO ZBOGAR Vasilij +1:49

+  9 FRA LOBERT Jonathan +1:56

+  10 USA RAILEY Zach +2:00

 

Race 2 - Top ten:

1 DEN HOGH-CHRISTENSEN Jonas 1:00:09

+  2 GBR AINSLIE Ben +0:19

+  3 CRO KLJAKOVIC GASPIC Ivan +1:16

+  4 FRA LOBERT Jonathan +1:24

+  5 SWE BIRGMARK Daniel +1:39

+  6 SLO ZBOGAR Vasilij +1:43

+  7 AUS CASEY Brendan +1:52

+  8 RUS SKORNYAKOV Eduard +2:18

+  9 EST KARPAK Deniss +2:25

+  10 NED POSTMA Pieter-Jan +2:37