SailGP Spain wins in Geneva

Spain’s SailGP team, Los Gallos, returned to form with victory in the Geneva event, held September 19-20, 2026, by defeating championship leaders the Bonds Flying Roos and booking their place in the Grand Final in the process. Diego Botín’s outfit made amends for the upset of missing the Final on home waters in Valencia two weeks ago to claim their third Grand Prix win in five events.

And although they trail the Aussies in the overall standings by 16 points, the ten points picked up at the Rolex Switzerland Sail Grand Prix all but guarantee Los Gallos will compete in the season-deciding Grand Final in November. The 2024 Rolex SailGP Champions will face three-time SailGP winners the Bonds Flying Roos in the Grand Final, with the third and final spot still up for grabs.

“It’s a very rewarding feeling,” wing trimmer Florian Trittel said. “This weekend in particular felt like it could have gone either way. We could have finished eighth or 10th, and we ended up with the win. Coming from Valencia after a devastating Sunday for us, which I think was the most difficult moment of the season for our team, to now get the win feels really good. It’s a little bit of what we can give back to our fans and everybody.”

Los Gallos ended the opening session in Geneva in fourth from seven in Group A, but a stellar final day including a nail-biting last group race saw them clinch a spot in the Final alongside the Bonds Flying Roos, ROCKWOOL Racing and Explora Swiss. The Bonds Flying Roos led off the line and looked to be in control, but a bold call from Los Gallos to split from the fleet temporarily gave them the upper hand when the leading pair came back together.

Botín’s crew then found another gear to move ahead of the Australians and hold their lead to the finish, sparking huge celebrations onboard the Spanish F50 and around a packed Lake Geneva shoreline. The Bonds Flying Roos, meanwhile, showed for a second Grand Prix on the bounce that despite being the standout team this season they are far from unbeatable.

After losing the Final in Valencia in the race’s dying moments, the Aussie team also gave away a solid lead during the light-wind finale in Geneva and had to settle for the runner-up spot for a second consecutive event. ROCKWOOL Racing completed the podium to score their first podium of 2026 and, in the process, deny home team Explora Swiss an historic finish on home waters. The Swiss team had already made history earlier in the day by reaching the Final for the first time, winning two group races in front of their home crowd to secure their place in the winner-takes-all showdown.

With just two events remaining, the battle for the final spot in the Abu Dhabi Sail Grand Prix 2026 Season Grand Final presented by Abu Dhabi Sports Council remains wide open, with the teams chasing Los Gallos and the Bonds Flying Roos for the one remaining place. For Los Gallos, however, the route to a second Championship title is now confirmed.

The NorthStar SailGP Team finished eighth overall at the Rolex Switzerland Sail Grand Prix, following a challenging weekend of light air racing on Lake Geneva. The Canadians started the event strongly with a victory in the first race. But light and highly variable conditions made consistency difficult across the weekend. With one race to go today, NorthStar were just one point away from qualifying for a fourth final this season, but a raft up in the start of the last fleet race put an end to that. After five fleet races, the Canadians were 4th in Group B, which was not enough to advance to the event final.

Driver Giles Scott said, “The last race is where it came undone for us. Approaching the start line on port, I knew that we were in a bad spot and that it was highly likely that we were going to get blocked and spat out the back of the line. Over my shoulder, I could see a couple of boats coming in foiling, which meant that they could very easily tack in front of us and hold us up. That put us out the back.”

“The whole weekend was summarized by that final race. Our fleet was very, very close. Even after yesterday, we felt reasonably positive about the way we were sailing the boat. It feels like we have turned a corner and it genuinely feels like we are capable of doing well in the light and transitional conditions, which we wouldn’t have been able to say a few months ago. It would be nice to move up a place or two in the final two events of the season. We will keep nudging forward wherever we can.” NorthStar now turns its attention to the closing events of the 2026 Rolex SailGP Championship which are scheduled to take place in Dubai and Abu Dhabi in late November.

Bonds Flying Roos driver Tom Slingsby debriefed the team’s Geneva heartbreak, which saw the Aussies ‘cough up’ a commanding lead for the second event in a row to lose the event title. A stellar fleet racing performance saw the Aussies proceed into the four boat Final at top of Group B alongside home favorites Explore Journeys Swiss. Meanwhile, Diego Botin’s Los Gallos and Nicolai Sehested’s ROCKWOOL Racing topped Group A to join them.

An excellent start off the line set the Australians up for a commanding race, but their decision to turn right at Gate 1 proved a mistake. Diego Botin’s Los Gallos split the course in response and gained the upper hand when the pair came back together. From there, Los Gallos moved ahead, defending their lead and crossing the finish line to seize the event title and secure their place in the Championship deciding Grand Final in November.

The event was the second in a row which saw the Aussies ‘cough up’ the lead and miss out on an event title, Slingsby said. He described it as a ‘copy and paste’ performance of September’s Valencia, which saw the Americans stun the Aussies in the four boat Final. “I’m never happy with second, and to come second twice in a row and lose a lead – that’s what’s breaking me,” Slingsby said after racing.

But he remained positive, describing the event as ‘bittersweet’ and insisting the team is ‘sailing the best we’ve ever sailed’ as the last two events of the season approach. “The Final was harder than it looks – it was tough to know what to do. Do you do two tacks and just cover the one boat, or do you watch the fleet? It was a tough decision to make and we got it wrong,” he said. The moment was debriefed by commentator Stevie Morrison – Slingsby, he said, would be ‘gutted’ to ‘miss out on the winning moment twice in a row’.

Taking the right turn was the ‘logical decision’, he said, – ‘it had been paying to go that way all weekend’. But it was the Spanish team which capitalized on the Australians’ mistake. “Ultimately you’ve got to look at the Spanish and how well they sailed.” Slingsby too was quick to praise the performance of Botin’s Spanish crew, describing them as ‘the best’ and doubling down on his desire to ‘race the best’ teams. “I want to race the top teams in the league and I want to beat them in the Final. I don’t want any victories handed our way. I want it the right way and that’s what we’re gunning for.”

Next up, the league heads to the Middle East for the final two events of the season – the Emirates Dubai Sail Grand Prix on 2122 November and the Championship-deciding Mubadala Abu Dhabi Sail Grand Prix 2026 Season Grand Final on 2829 November.

SailGP information – Geneva Details – How to Watch

Season 6 Results (after 11 of 13 events)
1. Australia, Tom Slingsby (AUS), 2-1-5-1-1-1-4-7-1-2-2, 94 points
2. Spain, Diego Botin (ESP), 12-3-3-2-2-12-1-1-3-5-1, 78
3. Sweden, Nathan Outteridge (AUS), 4-5-9-3-11-5-2-2-5-9-7, 59
4. United States, Taylor Canfield/Martine Grael (USA), 5-7-1-4-7-6-6-6-11-1-13, 56
5. Great Britain, Dylan Fletcher (GBR), 1-2-2-12-4-2-11-11-9-6-9, 53
6. France, Quentin Delapierre (FRA), 3-4*-13-8-9-4-10-8-6-12-6, 46
7. Canada, Giles Scott (CAN/GBR), 6-10-11-10-6-3-8-3-2-10-8, 44
8. Denmark, Nicolai Sehested (DEN), 8-9-6-5-7-12-9-10-4-3, 40
9. Switzerland, Sébastien Schneiter (SUI), 11-12-10-11-5-8-3-4-8-7-4, 39
10. Germany, Erik Heil (GER), 9-6-8-6-3-11-7-10-7-8-12, 36
11. Italy, Phil Robertson (NZL), 7-13-4-7-8-9-9-12-12-3-11, 30
12. New Zealand, Peter Burling (NZL), 13-8-12-13-13-13-5-5-4-11-5, 27
13. Brazil, Martine Grael/Paul Goodison (BRA/GBR), 10-11-7-9-12-10-13-13-13-13-10, 9
* Received compensation points for Sydney due to boat damage in Event 2.

Season 6 – 2026 Schedule:
• Jan 17-18 – Perth, Australia
• Feb 14-15 – Auckland, New Zealand
• Feb 28-March 1 – Sydney, Australia
• Apr 11-12 – Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
• May 9-10 – Hamilton, Bermuda
• May 30-31 – New York, USA
• June 20-21 – Halifax, Canada
• July 25-26- Portsmouth, GBR
• August 22-23 – Sassnitz, Germany
• Sept 5-6 – Valencia, Spain
• Sept 19-20 – Geneva, Switzerland
• Nov 21-22 – Dubai, UAE
• Nov 28-29 – Abu Dhabi, UAE
Note: The 11th event was moved to Geneva from Saint-Tropez, France.

Season 6 format:
• Thirteen teams compete in identical F50 catamarans.
• Each event is two days.
• The league has shifted to a split fleet format for qualifying, using season standings to balance the two groups.
• The top two from each fleet advance to a 4-boat final race for the event title.
• The season ends with the Grand Final event which includes the Championship Final Race for the top three teams in the season standing.
• All league teams are privately owned, with New Zealand as the last to be acquired on June 19, 2026.

Season 6 prize money:
A total of USD $12.8 million is up for grabs in 2026. The winner of each of the 13 events takes home $400,000, with $260,000 for second and $140,000 for third. The team with the most points at the end of the season wins $400,000, while the team that wins the Championship Final Race wins USD $2 million.

F50 Configuration:
All teams use same configuration based on weather forecast. There are four wingsail sizes (18m, 24m, 27.5m, and 29m), six jib sizes, two T-foil daggerboards (high-speed and low-speed), and one set of rudders with high-speed and low-speed settings.

Established in 2018, SailGP seeks to be an annual, global sports league featuring fan-centric inshore racing among national teams in some of the iconic harbors around the globe.

Source: SailGP