Spain ends the Roos’ SailGP reign — but …

Slingsby’s grip on the title has never been tighter. Jean Hudson reports on Canada Sail Grand Prix, Halifax | June 20–21, 2026

Tom Slingsby came to Halifax Harbour chasing history. Four consecutive event wins would have been unprecedented in SailGP’s short but spectacular life. He left Canada with a fourth-place finish in the final, and a bruised ego — yet somehow, impossibly, the BONDS Flying Roos are even further ahead in the championship than when they arrived.

Welcome to the maddening, brilliant contradictions of SailGP 2026.

The Roos were ruthless through Saturday and Sunday’s qualifying races. Slingsby and crew racked up three first-place finishes and a third across the group stage, topping Group A with 10 points on day one and continuing that dominance through the fleet races on day two. They were, by any measure, the team of the weekend.

But sailing’s cruelest truth — that the final is its own race, erasing everything that came before — bit the Aussies hard when it mattered most.

In an historic first-ever four-boat final, with winds of 27 km/h whipping across Halifax Harbour in front of more than 12,000 spectators, the Flying Roos had a nightmare. Spain’s Los Gallos, skippered by Diego Botin, claimed the event victory ahead of Artemis in second and the Explora Journeys Swiss team in third. Australia finished fourth — last — off the podium entirely.

“We don’t feel great,” a candid Slingsby admitted afterwards. “That’s the first-ever four-boat final and one boat has to miss out on the podium — and that’s us. We saved our worst race for last.”

Before racing even began on the final day, the event had already served up chaos. Emirates Great Britain were ruled out of the final entirely after sustaining damage during a warm-up incident — a brutal blow for Dylan Fletcher’s crew, who had fought hard to reach the decider. Mubadala Brazil compounded the drama by collecting a penalty after crashing into a gate mark, meaning Australia entered the final knowing it could not afford any mistakes. 

The weekend had begun with high-quality sailing from the green-and-gold despite challenging conditions. Halifax debuted a new split-fleet format, dividing the 13-boat field into two groups due to the tricky harbour geography and light, shifty winds that frustrated crews on opening day.

In Group A — featuring Australia, Spain, France, Denmark, New Zealand, Canada and Brazil — the Roos were clinical. The first race attempt was scrapped after a passing rain cell sucked the wind from the harbour, leaving the F50s wallowing on their heavy-wind foil settings. In the restart, Slingsby delivered a masterclass, crossing the finish line well clear of Spain and New Zealand.

The second Group A race was equally emphatic. Despite several lead changes and a strong start from Brazil, Slingsby was there when it counted — controlling the race from the front to complete a Group A double.

The Flying Roos headed into Sunday top of their group with 10 points, having barely broken a sweat.

One of the weekend’s most compelling sub-plots was the return of New Zealand’s Black Foils. Peter Burling’s team had been absent for four months following a horror high-speed collision with France’s DS Automobiles team in Auckland, requiring a complete rebuild of their F50.

Their comeback in Halifax was nothing short of extraordinary. In Race 1’s restart, the Black Foils tracked Slingsby’s wake with forensic precision, rounding the first mark just 3.5 seconds adrift and maintaining that gap through the second. They eventually finished third — a result that bodes exceptionally well for the second half of the season.

For neutrals and Australians alike, a healthy New Zealand team hunting points will make the back half of this championship a far more compelling spectacle.

Despite the Halifax final disappointment, the BONDS Flying Roos leave Canada with their championship lead not only intact but extended. They now sit on 62 points — nearly 20 clear of Spain’s Los Gallos and Emirates GBR, who are locked together on 44 points in second and third.

Before Halifax, the Roos had already delivered one of the most dominant mid-season runs in SailGP history: four wins in seven events, 12 race victories in 41 starts, and an average finishing position of 3.8 across the fleet. No other team is close to that level of consistency.

“If we knew we were going to have this kind of lead on the leaderboard going into the second half of the season, we would have taken it,” Slingsby said, finding a silver lining in the defeat.

With six events remaining and the $2 million championship final race on the line, the Roos have every right to feel bullish. Halifax was a bump, not a crisis.

The next SailGP event is the Emirates Great Britain Sail Grand Prix in Portsmouth, scheduled for July 25–26, 2026 of what is shaping up as an extraordinary season. The Roos are the team to beat — still — but Halifax showed the rest of the fleet that Slingsby and company are not untouchable! Go Roos, Fremantle Shipping News  is cheering for you. 

Canada Sail Grand Prix Final standings: 1. Los Gallos (ESP) 2. Artemis (SWE) 3. Explora Journeys Swiss 4. BONDS Flying Roos (AUS)

2026 Rolex SailGP Championship (after 7 events): 1. BONDS Flying Roos (AUS) — 62 pts 2. Los Gallos (ESP) — 44 pts 3. Emirates GBR — 44 pts

*Story by Jean Hudson, images courtesy SailGP. Jean is our Shipping and Sailing Correspondent and also a regular feature writer, reviewer and photographer here on the Shipping News. You may also like to follow up her informative Places I Love stories, as well as other feature stories and Freo Today photographs, right here.

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