Emirates Great Britain Deliver When it Counts to Win Australia Sail GP

Emirates Great Britain Deliver When it Counts to Win Australia Sail GP

Main Photo: Rolex SailGP Championship Event 3 Season 2025 Australia Photo: SailGP

Emirates Great Britain has caused an upset at the KPMG Australia Sail Grand Prix Sydney, knocking the favoured Australian team off the top step in the Final on Sydney’s iconic Harbour.

Tom Slingsby’s Australia Team were served a penalty in the start box of the Final by umpires, sending them to the back as Dylan Fletcher’s Emirates Great Britain and Giles Scott’s Canada fought for the honours ahead.

“Personally, it’s massive when you know Sydney is where SailGP started in 2019 and where I started my journey, so to come back here and win is amazing. I’m just really proud of the whole team and how they’ve included me in it when I’ve obviously been learning a lot and making a lot of mistakes so I think there’s more to come.” Fletcher said, speaking about his team’s win. 

“We were obviously disappointed after the first two events (of the season) to not win so to get in that final for a third time and to finally close it out felt good.”

“Hannah (Mills) was doing an incredible job. It was very difficult today with Shark Island, picking which side to go, so she really helped me out.”

Slingbsy’s Australia went into the final as the favourite, following near-faultless performances over the past two days, however the penalty proved too much to fight back from.

Speaking about his disappointment, Slingsby said: “Honestly, the British did a really good tack on us up that first beat. Their timing was perfect. We’ve been sailing so well as a team and have a lot to be proud of, I’m just sorry to the fans. I think everyone thought we were a shoo-in, but it didn’t quite go our way and that’s sport.” 

“I think the penalty was really late. Usually they tell you if you’ve got a penalty straight away and they told us like halfway, three quarters of the way along the reach and you definitely change the way you position yourself. But, that’s not the reason we lost – we didn’t sail well enough in the final race and that’s the reason we lost.”

Despite not getting a win today, their performance still sees the Aussies with three podiums from three events in the 2025 Rolex SailGP Championship and today’s third place will be Australia’s sixth podium in six events in Sydney.

How it unfolded:

Fletcher’s Emirates Great Britain continued its strong performance from day one as they took an early lead in Race 5. They were followed closely by Peter Burling’s New Zealand Black Foils, who made a comeback after a disappointing day yesterday, with Australia in third.

The Kiwis went a step further in Race 6, taking an unrivaled lead as Nicolai Sehested’s ROCKWOOL Denmark and Scott’s Canada battled it out for the minor positions behind. After a slower start for the Aussies, Slingsby accelerated from eight place to finish in third after an impressive overtake of Denmark at Gate 7.

The Aussies took their third win of the event in Race 7, finishing fleet racing with seven podium finishes from seven races to top the leaderboard ahead of Emirates Great Britain and Canada who joined them in the Grand Final.

In the Final, Australia never recovered from their penalty as Canada and Emirates Great Britain went toe-to-toe at the front. The British team proved too strong with the highest average speed and the shortest distance sailed to take the win.

Emirates Great Britain now leads the 2025 Season of the Rolex SailGP Championship on 27 pts, followed closely by Australia, who has moved up to second on 24 pts and Spain, who has moved up to third on 20 pts. New Zealand dropped from second to fourth position, sitting on equal points with Spain.

The 2025 Season of the Rolex SailGP Championship now heads to the U.S for round four at the Rolex Los Angeles Sail Grand Prix on March 15-16 and the Oracle San Francisco Sail Grand Prix on March 23-24. For more information, visit sailgp.com.

KPMG Australia Sail Grand Prix | Sydney – FINAL STANDINGS: 

  1. Emirates Great Britain

  2. Canada

  3. Australia 

  4. ROCKWOOL Denmark 

  5. Switzerland 

  6. France

  7. Spain 

  8. New Zealand 

  9. Red Bull Italy 

  10. Mubadala Brazil

  11. Germany SailGP Team presented by Deutsche Bank

  12. USA

2025 Rolex SailGP Championship – STANDINGS AFTER 3 EVENTS:

  1. Emirates Great Britain 27 pts

  2. Australia 24 pts

  3. Spain 20 pts

  4. New Zealand 20 pts

  5. ROCKWELL Denmark 17 pts

  6. Canada 15 pts

  7. France 15 pts

  8. Switzerland 12 pts

  9. Red Bull Italy 7 pts

  10. Mubadala Brazil 0 pts

  11. USA 0 pts

  12. Germany SailGP Team presented by Deutsche Bank -6 pts