British Olympic gold medallist Iain Percy and crew Steve Mitchell won the 2002 Star Class world title at their first attempt in California.

Olympic Finn champion Percy, 26, and Mitchell, 32, only took up sailing the two-handed Star keelboat 10 months ago but beat a world-class 103-strong fleet.

The British pair scored two first places, a second, a third and a fourth in the five races to count from six.

They beat Brazil's 1990 champion Torben Grael and crew Marcelo Ferreira into second, six points adrift, with 10 other former champions trailing in their wake.

Percy's feat emulates that of countryman and fellow Sydney gold medallist Ben Ainslie, who switched from the single-handed Laser to win the larger one-man Finn world title in July.

The Percy/Mitchell partnership are aiming to take their Star campaign to the 2004 Olympics in Athens.

But they could face stiff competition from Britain's America's Cup skipper Ian Walker, who, with Mark Covell, won silver in the Star in Sydney.