America's Cup: Kiwis on course for the Cup: two match points for New Zealand

Foil poker, thrilling duels and two often evenly matched teams: the second day of racing in the final of the Challenger Playoffs was to the taste of sailors and fans alike. In the end, the Kiwis came out on top, winning two matches on Sunday after Artemis' opening victory and taking a 4-2 lead ahead of Monday evening's decider. The two-time Cup winners from New Zealand have thus earned themselves two match points in the battle for a place in the 35th America's Cup. To make matters worse for the brilliantly battling Swedes, the weather forecast predicts decreasing winds. And these are considered to be the favourite side of the New Zealanders with their helmsman Peter Burling.

The pressure is growing. Especially for the Swedes. Opponents New Zealand have two match points on Monday. Artemis helmsman Nathan Outteridge tells us what his team will need to do on the final day of the challenger round if they want to turn the tide

It was easy to see why on Sunday: Artemis Racing had made a convincing start to the second day of racing at 1-2. With the shorter strong wind foils under the boat and extremely high speed, the Swedes ran over the New Zealanders upwind after the start of race 4 and took a commanding lead at the first turning mark. In gusty winds of up to 15 knots, the Swedes dominated the race, while the Kiwis looked less fresh than usual and even error-prone. When Artemis once again made a big mistake on the fifth section of the course and the boat almost got out of control, the Kiwis came very close and protested, but were given nothing more than the green light for "no penalty". Nevertheless, a highly exciting neck-and-neck race developed for a short time. But the referees also rejected another protest from the New Zealanders on the water. The Kiwis kept coming close to the Swedes, but they couldn't get past. And finally the Swedes were the first to cross the line. Shortly after the race, when asked about the reason for the botched manoeuvre, Outteridge replied with a laugh: "I made it interesting for everyone again..."

In the second race of the day and the fifth final encounter in total, both teams started with a fresh grinder and cyclist respectively. On board the Kiwis, a new pro cyclist replaced the previous pro cyclist. Even before the start, the decreasing winds had raised the question of whether the Kiwis would come into their own with their light wind set-up. And they did! Once again, it was the Swedes who got off to a better start and passed mark 1 with a three-second lead. Until then, the race was similar to the first duel. By mark 3, however, the Kiwis were already ahead of the Swedes. Helmsman Peter Burling played his cross-course advantages like a whole set of aces up his sleeve. The Kiwis' longer foils obviously worked better in these conditions. In winds of around 10 knots, Emirates Team New Zealand more than doubled its lead between mark 4 (0:18 seconds) and mark 5 (0:39 seconds) alone, at times having a lead of more than 600 metres. The Swedes did not even finish this race, had technical problems and wanted to use every minute until the start of race 6 to revise.

For the sixth and final race on Sunday, a grinder and a cyclist were again replaced in both teams. Artemis Racing found themselves in the leeward position shortly after the start, were able to lunge up the New Zealanders and did so in fine match race style. In a wide arc they went round mark one with the Swedes controlling the inside. At this point, Burling and his men could only react. However, separation and better manoeuvres meant they were quickly back in the game. After the Swedes made a small "braking error", they only had a lead of three seconds at mark three. The two catamarans were already level on the fourth leg. At this point, a "flight time" of 100 per cent was displayed for both teams. But neither of them made it to the finish. As a result, the New Zealanders once again showed what had made them the favourites in this final: better tacks, clean manoeuvres and higher speeds.

But suddenly, with the finish at the last turning mark already in sight, Peter Burling made a very rare mistake. The "Aotearoa" fell off the foils and lay in the water like a heavy raft. The Swedes came inexorably closer from behind at high speed. It took a long time for the Kiwis to get their catamaran moving again and back on the foils and drift towards the finish line. The blue Swedish and the red and black New Zealand projectile raced towards the line on almost equal terms. What a heart-stopping finale for the spectators in the stands and on TV screens around the world. The final sprint unexpectedly turned into a thriller, which Emirates Team New Zealand happily won by just one second at the finish. The finish was reminiscent of the thrilling final duel in the 32nd America's Cup match in 2007, when Alinghi defeated the New Zealanders by one second. Back then, cartoonist Mark O'Brian transformed the classic Cup motto "There is no second" into the cheerful headline "There is one second", which was also appropriate on Sunday evening.

Burling later admitted: "It was clearly my fault. We simply missed the mooring line. Our plan was to sail through the gate and then gybe back to the finish line after maybe another 10 or 20 seconds. But we weren't really ready for the gybe and hadn't been able to accelerate through the gybe. It's as simple as that: you make a small mistake and a clear lead turns into nothing. We're just happy that the guys got stuck in, got the board down, got it back on the foil and we were finally able to accelerate."

When asked why there were hardly any aggressive attacks in the classic match race style in the pre-start phase in this final, which had certainly been seen in the preliminary round and in the semi-final encounters, Nathan Outteridge said: "It looked like Team New Zealand tried to avoid us as much as possible in the pre-starts today. They sailed really long distances away from the start line and then turned round and sailed towards the start line at high speed. As a result, there was hardly any interaction." Outterdige's description elicited a rare broad grin from Peter Burling, who was sitting next to him at the press conference - the 26-year-old was clearly amused. Outterdige went on to explain: "We're quite happy with our starting qualities and quite aggressive. We have the confidence to take them on. I'm sure Peter will have something to say about that too..."

Burling took the ball passed to him by Outteridge - still grinning - then put on his serious face again and said: "From our point of view, today wasn't so much about the starts, to put it bluntly. Our main aim was to get to the first mark in a good position and then to roll up the race from there. It was clear that Artemis' configuration was really fast for those first short reach sprints. I think we created very good opportunities for ourselves in both the first and third starts, especially downwind where we were fast. And I was really happy with the way we managed to do that." Burling made the most important statement towards the end of the press conference: "We are not so worried if we are behind. We have great confidence that we can still overtake them. But we definitely prefer to be in front." Nathan Outteridge described the most pressing task for the Swedes sailing against two match points from the New Zealanders on Monday: "We need to control them as much as we can." Races 4, 5 and 6 of the Challenger Playoffs have taught us that once the New Zealanders have gained the lead, they can usually only beat themselves. That almost happened this Sunday.