Tom Slingsby steered the Flying Roos back to the front of the SailGP pack in dramatic fashion at Rio de Janeiro's Enel Sail Grand Prix, winning a three-boat Final against Spain and Sweden to reclaim the Season 6 championship lead.
The April 11-12 event — the league's first visit to South America — was staged in the shadow of the 396-metre Sugarloaf Mountain, with the same shrunken arena that hosted the 2016 Olympic Medal Race. Light, patchy winds on day one gave way to bigger puffs and lulls on day two, turning the F50 fleet's final qualifying races into a handling contest.
Australia converted a strong start in the Final into an immediate lead at the first mark, with Slingsby tucked in ahead of Nathan Outteridge's Sweden crew and Diego Botin's Spain. An umpire penalty on Sweden for a mark-room infringement on Spain early in the race effectively ended the battle for gold, leaving Slingsby to manage the light-air transitions to the finish.
"It's NASCAR on water here in Brazil," the broadcast commentary captured during an early start-line scrum that set the tone for a tight, tactical contest. For Slingsby, who has watched his dominant team slip behind Great Britain in the title race this season, the Rio win was a long time coming.
Iain Jensen, the Australian wing trimmer who joined the crew after years sailing with other national teams, picked up his first win on the boat in the process — a moment flagged by commentators on the live broadcast as significant for the veteran who has been openly proud to be sailing for his home nation.
The victory flipped the Season 6 standings on their head. Great Britain, which had led the championship after the first three events, suffered a last-place finish in Rio and dropped to second, while Australia now sits clear at the top with 35 points heading to the North American swing. The United States, sitting third on 27 points, looked strong early in Rio before fading on day two.
The league now heads to Bermuda on May 9-10, the first of three consecutive events in North America before the European circuit resumes in July. The Season 6 Grand Final is scheduled for Abu Dhabi on November 28-29, with the overall championship winner banking US$400,000 on top of the US$400,000 event prize.
With 12.8 million dollars in prize money on offer across the 13-event season and 13 teams still in contention for Abu Dhabi, Rio confirmed what Slingsby has been saying all year: the Flying Roos are not done winning trophies.
