Torvar Mirsky became the first Australian skipper to the win the $100,000 Argo Group Gold Cup in nearly a decade in ideal conditions in Hamilton Harbour yesterday.Mirsky and his fellow Wave Muscat team-mates edged previous Gold Cup winner Johnie Berntsson of Sweden 3-2 in a best-of-five final that went right down to the wire.“I’m over the moon about this . . . to take down Johnie Berntsson who has won this event before and sailed so fast today was a really tough feat for us,” Mirsky said.Berntsson, whose Gold Cup win arrived in 2008, put up a good fight but ultimately came up short.“We went out today to try and perform to our best and very much wanted to win the finals,” he said. “But sometimes you meet the better team and this time we did and so congratulations to Torvar and his team who did a really good job today.”Mirsky gained the upper hand when he went one up in the first match after Berntsson was hit with a questionable penalty on the first beat to windward.Berntsson was penalised for colliding with his Australian rival even though he appeared to have the right of way heading to the weather mark.The Swede’s fortunes then quickly went from bad to worse as he was forced to do another turn for not properly executing a penalty turn (his spinnaker wasn’t lowered enough) on the first downwind run.Berntsson’s misfortunes enabled Mirsky to sail virtually uncontested the rest of the way.But Berntsson stormed right back in the second match that he controlled throughout to level the series.Mirsky, though, regained the lead after winning the third match which saw his rival hit with two penalties.Berntsson incurred a penalty during the pre-start dial-up but managed to take the lead at the first windward mark and cling to his advantage until the race took a dramatic turn near the finish.With Mirsky hot in pursuit with his spinnaker in full bloom, Berntsson attempted to execute a penalty turn near the finish line but was hit with yet another penalty for obstruction, which effectively gave Mirsky who had the right of way, the go-ahead win.But Berntsson again refused to roll over and forced a deciding fifth match after sailing to a comfortable win in a highly tactical fourth race.“He totally smashed us in that fourth race,” Mirsky said.“We thought it was basically over going into that fifth race because Johnie was just faster than us.”However, the pendulum would swing yet again in the deciding race which saw Mirsky jump out to an early lead and cover his rival the rest of the way around the course to clinch the series and with it the $50,000 jackpot.“Thank God we picked up that start and were able to defend it around the course,” Mirsky said. “Those three laps were really nerve wrecking for us and Johnie kept putting the pressure on us.”Yesterday’s win, Mirsky’s first in the Gold Cup, was his second straight triumph on this year’s World Match Racing Tour (WMRT) following last month’s success at the St Moritz Match Race in Switzerland.“To win two events in a row is a really cool feeling and $50,000 doesn’t hurt either,” the Aussie smiled.Mirsky also thanked his fellow team-mates for getting the boat around the course fast all week.“It’s a team effort and we’ve been sailing well as a team for a while,” he said. “It’s just a really cool feeling we can celebrate this together.”Prior to yesterday’s race Peter Gilmour was the last Australian to have won the Gold Cup, in 2003, and he said he thought Mirsky had a bright future.“I think it’s fantastic that Torvar won and you can generally see that these young sailors that are putting in a lot of work and effort are on top of their game,” Gilmour said.“Torvar and his team have a great future ahead of them and I am very proud of them all. Torvar is from my own home town in Perth and so it’s great to see him win.”Mirsky’s win enabled him to close the gap on World Match Racing Tour (WMRT) points leader Ian Williams who finished seventh in this week’s event.Only 6.2 points now separate Williams from third-placed Mirsky who also won last month’s St Moritz Match Race in Switzerland heading into next month’s season-ending Monsoon Cup in Malaysia.Gilmour believes it’s anyone’s guess who will eventually lift the coveted title.“Suddenly this is going to be really tight for the world championship,” he said.“There’s three of them, Torvar, Francesco (Bruni) and Ian Williams, who was leading going into this (Gold Cup) event, and one of them is going to come away and be the world champion for this year.”Earlier, Italy’s Francesco Bruni beat New Zealand’s Phil Robertson 2-0 in the Petite final.