Australia are the 2022 SailGP Champions. The Australian team won the inaugural Championship in 2019, and Tom Slingsby’s SailGPAus team have done it again to win the Mubadala Sail Grand Prix event before the challenge set by Nathan Outteridge’s Japan and Jimmy Spithill’s USA in the winner-takes-all final race.
An event to remember
It was an event-filled few days with collisions between France and New Zealand, and Spain and the USA. Plus two races were abandoned and restarted – including the Grand Final itself due to a whale entering the racecourse.
The Aussies proved their talent once again as they lifted the Championship trophy in the San Francisco race village to wild cheers.
“We’ve never really seen this calibre of fleet anywhere in the world,” said Slingsby. “You always talk about, ‘Who is the best sailor around the world?’, but to be here with evenly-matched boats makes it huge for me that Australia came out on top.
“We can call ourselves the best sailors in the world. That is more important than money. Glory lasts forever, and it really feels like that.”
A never give up attitude
Despite losing in the final, it was incredible that the United States even managed to race at all, having suffered serious hull damage when the Spanish crashed into their boat during the opening race of the day.
But, despite rapid repair work ensuring they could race with huge support from their fans cheering them on from the shore, Spithill’s team could only manage a third place finish in the final.
As Australia celebrates their back-to-back successes, they will now start preparing to defend their title as season 3 starts in just over a month with the Bermuda Sail Grand Prix taking place on 14-15 May.
