US SailGP Team have claimed victory at the KPMG Sydney Sail Grand Prix, defeating Emirates GBR in the Final with Spain’s Los Gallos finishing third overall. It marks the Americans’ first event win since Cádiz in Season 4 and Taylor Canfield’s first SailGP regatta victory – a result he described as “an incredible feeling.”
On a light and highly tactical Championship Sunday, the Americans delivered consistent results in the final qualifying races (3, 1, 6) to secure their place in the three-boat Final. With wind at the lower end of the range and foiling conditions marginal, clean air and sharp starting proved decisive.
“It was a tricky racetrack but we came into today with a really good plan,” said Canfield. “We knew we had to keep the pedal down, stay in clean air, stay out of the pack. Our starting has always been pretty good in the lighter conditions, and we got off the line well, kept our heads out of the boat and did a nice job.”
In the Final, Emirates GBR controlled the early stages after winning the start, but US SailGP executed a decisive move into the gate mid-race to take the lead and stretch clear on the final legs
Britain crossed second, while Spain – the most consistent team across the weekend – completed the podium in third.
Emirates Great Britain SailGP Team strategist Hannah Mills said, “It was just so hard today, in particular just with that really down range – not foiling at all in the first couple of races and then a little bit of foiling in the final – it feels like surviving a day like that and we somehow did and got into the Final and we landed second.”
The result reshapes the season standings
Emirates GBR now lead the championship with 28 points, Australia sit second on 25, and the U.S. move into third overall on 20 points.
For the BONDS Flying Roos, it was a frustrating home regatta. Despite being in contention heading into the final qualifying race, a poor result saw them miss the Final – the first time the three-time champions have done so in Sydney. “It’s frustrating. We were in a good position even going into the last race. We were still inside the top three but we had a shocking final race. We also had some pretty poor results earlier in the day so we just didn’t sail well enough to make the Final and got the result we deserved.” admitted Tom Slingsby.
Elsewhere, Brazil showed encouraging progress with a steady mid-fleet performance ahead of their home event next month.
