Giles Scott was determined to take the positives from a tough Olympic Games baptism yesterday.

The Huntingdon sailor, hot favourite for gold in the Finn class, endured a tough opening race on the Pao de Acucar course in Rio.

He found himself caught on the wrong side of a wind shift sweeping around Sugarloaf Mountain to finish 17th before recovering to take a third place in Race Two to sit 10th in the overall standings.

Scott said: “The Sugarloaf course is notoriously difficult.

“There is a lot of scope for big gains and there is also a lot of scope for some big losses so managing those is particularly difficult.

“It’s certainly not the way I wanted to start an Olympic Games, but unfortunately these things happen in regattas, and they have certainly happened to me over the past four years.

“I’m not massively happy and it doesn’t make things easy for the rest of the competition, but there is still a lot to play for.

“I felt no more nerves than at the first race of a World Championship, it all felt very normal.

“There is still an awfully long way to go and we will just have to see what the rest of the week brings.

“I think the vast majority of the sailors had a good and a bad score.

Slovenian sailor Vasilij Zbogar handled the conditions best with third and first places to lead the field into day two.

Racing resumes at 5pm BST today. Fellow Huntingdon sailor Ben Saxton gets his first taste of Olympic action today.

Saxton and partner Nicola Groves begin their quest for honours in the Nacra 17 event which makes its Games debut in Rio.