Team New Zealand wins the America's Cup

At last, we can celebrate - Team New Zealand have lifted the America's Cup from Oracle Team USA with a thrilling win off Bermuda this morning (NZ time).

Needing just one more win in the first-to-seven format challenge match, the Kiwis made no mistake, setting aside the ghosts of 2013, when they squandered eight match-points in San Francisco.

Trailing 6-1, Oracle skipper Jimmy Spithill got the best of the start, even off the line, but steaming into the first mark with a three-second advantage.

Emirates Team NZ have not lost a race that they lead after the first leg and their only loss came when they lagged. This time, they would have to do it from behind.

Helmsman Peter Burling had his nose ahead halfway down the second leg and enjoyed a five-second advantage through the next gate. Oracle fell off the foils as they rounded, conceding more valuable ground.

"We were obviously pretty focused on getting to that reach mark first today and the boys did a great job there," said Spithill afterwards. "But unfortunately they were the quicker boat downwind today, for sure.

"It was very very tough to keep close. I thought upwind, the boats were a lot more competitive - theboys did a great job tacking - but downwind, they had the speed."

Team NZ stretched that advantage to 26 seconds upwind, with Oracle splitting to the opposite side of the course, looking for some breeze to blow them back into the contest.

Burling simply sailed a faultless race, reaching the fourth gate 35 seconds ahead and immediately tacking to cover Oracle's next attempted split, literally staying one step ahead of Spithill.

The American team did make gains upwind, trying to engage the Kiwis in a tacking duel to grind them down.