Olympic legend Ben Ainslie led his Teamorigin crew to the Monsoon Cup in Malaysia to claim his first ISAF Match Racing World Championship title.

The three-time Olympic champion staged a late-season charge to snatch the title from long-time series leader Mathieu Richard of the French Match Racing Team with the pair’s duel going to the final day of the season in Malaysia.

Macclesfield-born Ainslie had been closing in on the Frenchman all week and the team’s 2-0 semi-final win over Bjorn Hansen’s Hansen Global Team saw them claim overall victory.

Double Olympic champion Iain Percy was part of the successful crew, as was fellow Briton Matt Cornwell, Christian Kamp and Mike Mottl and they went on to defeat Mirsky Racing Team to win the tour’s richest final.

Ainslie said: "It was obviously a great way for us to end as a team. It was very tough out there today but it was a united effort and we’re really happy all round. For the whole team this has been massive for us."