Flying Roos hit high five with victory in Sassnitz

Australia’s Bonds Flying Roos comfortably beat NorthStar Canada, Spain’s Los Gallos and New Zealand’s Black Foils to take their fifth win of the SailGP season in the final at Sassnitz and strengthen their position at the top of the championship standings.

Here's how it played out, as fortunes swung on the Baltic waters.

Sunday in Sassnitz was never going to be straightforward. Rain squalls rolled in off the Baltic all morning, dragging the breeze around and punching holes right across the racecourse. In the unpredictable conditions, just keeping the boats up on their foils would turn out to be half the battle.

Saturday had left the Black Foils and France on top of Group A, the Flying Roos and Artemis leading Group B. Would they be able to hold on to make it into the four-boat final?

It was carnage for the opening race of the day: two boats over at the start, NorthStar dumped to the back while Tom Slingsby nailed the timing to lead round mark one ahead of Emirates GBR and Artemis. Artemis's race unravelled at gate two – a horrible rounding dropped the Swedes off their foils, then a penalty for failing to keep clear of the US turned second place into sixth in just a few seconds.

The race, though, belonged to Germany. Erik Heil stole the lead from the Aussies upwind and – with the racecourse now a patchwork of breeze and dead air – kept his boat flying while the rest splashed down.

Behind the runaway Germans it was snakes and ladders, and nobody climbed better than the Canadians, first back on the foils to turn their start-line disaster into second, a full 1min 15sec behind Germany. Artemis recovered to third ahead of Emirates GBR, with the Roos fifth and the US last.

Race 4b
1 Germany
2 Canada
3 Sweden
4 Great Britain
5 Australia
6 United States

Group A's opener was neck and neck off the line between France and the Black Foils, but the Kiwis’ pace had them leading by the first mark, with Mubadala Brazil rounding third and promptly pinged for not giving room. France's afternoon started going wrong on leg two: manoeuvring away early on the second leg dropped Quentin Delapierre's crew to fifth.

Nobody was catching the Black Foils out front, and behind them Los Gallos climbed from fifth to second, holding it all the way to the line. France recovered to third, after riding out a hairy moment exiting gate four and then defending a late attack from Rockwool Racing. A second race win put the Kiwis into the final with a race to spare; the real scrap, France v Spain for Group A's last spot, was still to come.

Race 4a
1 New Zealand
2 Spain
3 France
4 Denmark
5 Switzerland
6 Brazil
7 Italy

With the top four in Group B covered by a single point, the last fleet race was effectively a knockout. Taylor Canfield's US crew nailed the start to lead round mark one ahead of Artemis and the Flying Roos, but got wide at gate two and splashed down.

Artemis inherited the lead, but it didn't last. Just before gate four the Roos, NorthStar and Artemis converged, crossing with barely 50cm to spare at over 70km/h. But no penalty came, and Giles Scott's Canadians emerged in front. They never looked back: race win, and the final booked. Behind, Slingsby dragged the Roos through to second, dashing Swedish hopes of the final, and the US nipped past a deflated Artemis for third.

Race 5b
1 Canada
2 Australia
3 United States
4 Sweden
5 Germany
6 Great Britain

Standings in Group B
1 Canada 17
2 Australia 15
3 Sweden 14
4 Germany 12
5 Great Britain 9
6 United States 8

Diego Botín pulled off what Los Gallos have been calling the 'French start', weaving through the middle of the pack to fire off the line clear ahead. The Spanish led at mark one at and simply sailed away.

For Quentin Delapierre's crew it was looking dire by leg three: fifth, needing to make up two places to make the final. By gate four Los Gallos were 19 seconds clear of Rockwool Racing, and they controlled it to the finish for a decisive win – and with it, a place in the Sassnitz final alongside the Black Foils, the Flying Roos and NorthStar Canada.

“It's super hard to achieve, so we don't take it for granted,” said Botín on the water, now chasing a third straight event win. France's consolation: officially the fastest crew in SailGP.

Race 5a
1 Spain
2 Denmark
3 Italy
4 New Zealand
5 Switzerland
6 France
7 Brazil

Standings in Group A
1 New Zealand 19
2 Spain 16
3 France 14
4 Switzerland 9
5 Denmark 8
6 Italy 7
7 Brazil 0

NorthStar promptly handed Australia a gift at the start. Coming into the line too early, they bailed out to avoid a penalty and slowed up the Black Foils and Los Gallos behind. The Roos pounced and flew off into a lead they'd never lose.

NorthStar then dropped off the foils before gate two, falling to third as the chasing trio swapped places in the gusts – Los Gallos, last off the start, sliced past the Black Foils at gate three for second. Out front Slingsby sailed his own race, and the Roos crossed comfortably – a first event win since New York.

Then the wind died. All three of the chasing pack came off their foils at the penultimate mark for a tense, slow-motion finish. The Black Foils, penalised for squeezing Los Gallos at the boundary, had to drop astern, and Canada drifted slightly less slowly than the rest to take second from Spain, with the Kiwis fourth.

Final
1 Australia
2 Canada
3 Spain
4 New Zealand

That's five event wins this season for the Flying Roos, who leave Germany on 76 points – a full 14 clear of Los Gallos in second, whose back-to-back winning run is over. Artemis remain third on 53 despite missing the Sassnitz final, still waiting for a first event win since joining the league. And the reigning champions' slide goes on: Emirates GBR could only manage ninth here and now sit fourth overall, level on points with the US.

It caps a weekend that swung from a new outright speed record to a final decided at walking pace, with Sunday's five races producing five different winners. Whatever Sassnitz threw at this fleet, it was Tom Slingsby's crew who handled it best, and they head into this final stage of the season looking formidable.

Germany SailGP final order
1 Australia 10
2 Canada 9
3 Spain 8
4 New Zealand 7
5 Sweden 6
6 France 5
7 Germany 4
8 Switzerland 3
9 Great Britain 2
10 Denmark 1
11 USA 0
12 Italy 0
13 Brazil 0

SailGP 2026 championship standings
1 Australia 76
2 Spain 62
3 Sweden 53
4 Great Britain 46
5 United States 46
6 France 41
7 Canada 40
8 Germany 32
9 Switzerland 28
10 Denmark 25
11 Italy 22
12 New Zealand 21
13 Brazil 8