16 Feb 2016

Tuke and Burling win again

11:21 am on 16 February 2016

The New Zealand sailors Blair Tuke and Peter Burling have won their fourth straight 49er world title.

The pair dominated the regatta in Florida and sealed the title with a second, third and 12th on the final day.

That gave them a 43-point margin over the second-placed Australian team.

Tuke and Burling have won every world championship since finishing second at the London Olympics in 2012.

"Blair and myself have been doing a lot of work in the 49er and keeping on pushing on and a few things were were trailing this week worked pretty well and so we're really happy as we started the week strong and managed to carry on right through till the end," Burling said.

The Rio Olympics remained their focus, Burling said.

"We know a lot of these guys are pushing really hard and if they have a good event you've got to be on to beat them, something Blair and myself are just trying to keep improving and getting better in all the areas we can get better in."

Burling and Tuke now return hom for this week's Halberg Awards before switching to Team New Zealand for a couple of America's Cup World Series events.

Alexandra Maloney and Molly Meech finished seventh in the women's 49erFX.