By Alexander Smith
BARCELONA (Reuters) – New Zealand retained the America’s Cup with a 7-2 series win over Britain on Saturday, sparking wild celebrations on board their boat in the Mediterranean and on shore in Barcelona.
The victory makes it a third win in a row for the New Zealand team, who successfully defended the “Auld Mug”, which they won in Auckland in 2021 and in Bermuda in 2017.
There were hugs among the crew of eight on board “Taihoro” before the rest of their team joined them to mark a successful finale to a three-year campaign to retain the coveted trophy.
“An amazing feeling… an amazing scoreline,” New Zealand skipper Peter Burling said on the America’s Cup live broadcast.
The black-clad winning crew were surrounded by a flotilla of boats, horns blaring as they packed up their sails.
British skipper Ben Ainslie paid tribute to the New Zealand team, whom he said were the best ever in the America’s Cup, after losing out to the Kiwis in a tightly-fought sea skirmish.
“At the end of the day the better team won,” Ainslie said from onboard “Britannia”, adding that it was not the end of the journey for the British effort to “bring the Cup home”.
(Reporting by Alexander Smith; Editing by Alex Richardson and Clare Fallon)
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