Botín and Trittel join France’s America’s Cup ‘K-Challenge’

It was always going to happen eventually. Diego Botín and Florian Trittel have confirmed they’re entering the America’s Cup, joining France's K-Challenge for the 38th edition in Naples.

The reigning 49er Olympic champions will line up alongside French helm Quentin Delapierre when the Cup rolls around in 2027 – rivals on the SailGP circuit, teammates on the AC75.

“After a couple of pieces of news and rumours that have been circulating, we wanted to confirm that Flo and I will be joining the French team,” Botín said. “It is a huge opportunity for us to continue developing and growing as sailors.”

You can see why now feels right. Still in their early 30s, both sailors are riding a wave of form that shows no sign of breaking. SailGP Season 4 champions, Olympic gold at Paris 2024, followed by World Sailors of the Year 2024. And then they returned to the class last October and won the world championship in Cagliari. Their first major 49er event since the Olympics, with just two months of prep.

In Trittel’s words, it was “the last title we were missing.” Small wonder, then, that they’ve now set their sights on the oldest trophy in sport. “The America's Cup represents an enormous professional challenge and a huge opportunity for growth,” Botín said. “We want to keep evolving, and at the same time we feel we still have a lot to give in the 49er. Combining both projects will make us better sailors.”

The Royal Spanish Sailing Federation clearly agrees, calling the move “the natural progression” for such a talented team. But this isn't a pivot away from the Olympics. The pair have mapped out a detailed plan with the federation that keeps LA28 firmly in view.

“We’re coming off two incredible years,” Trittel said. “Now the time has come for us to develop in this new direction and take on this challenge – while keeping our goal of competing for Olympic glory again in 2028.”

In 2026, they’ll focus on transitioning into the America’s Cup while maintaining technical 49er training. Come 2027, they’ll combine their Cup commitments with the 49er World Championship in Gdynia, Poland – the first event to award Olympic qualification spots.

None of which means stepping back from SailGP. “Yes, the plan is to keep doing both,” Trittel confirmed. “Then after the Cup we’ll return fully to the 49er.”

Three elite campaigns at once sounds like madness. But if there’s one team that's earned the right to try, it’s Botín and Trittel. They won the SailGP Season 4 title just 19 days before claiming Olympic gold in Marseille. Then they came back from more than a year away from the 49er and won the Worlds with minimal preparation.

Spain’s Olympic preparation director Xisco Gil isn’t worried about the workload. “They became Olympic champions while combining their Olympic campaign with SailGP, and they won that season of such a demanding circuit,” he said. “These examples give us confidence that the roadmap towards LA28 is solid.”

A full crew announcement is expected from K-Challenge on 17 March. But now we know two names on the sheet. Having taken their 49er world title in Cagliari, we can probably expect to see them on board the AC40 for the first preliminary regatta there in May.

The comparisons to Peter Burling and Blair Tuke, another Olympic-champion-turned-America's-Cup-force, are inevitable. Whether they can match the Kiwi pair's achievements remains to be seen. But as Trittel promises: “We will give everything.”