Australians top of the leaderboard heading into home waters for the KPMG Australia Sail Grand Prix
by Olivia Hogan / Australia SailGP Team 16 Jan 2023 10:27 NZDT
14-15 January 2023
Denmark SailGP Team presented by ROCKWOOL, New Zealand SailGP Team and Australia SailGP Team in action with the city skyline in the background on Race Day 2 of the Singapore Sail Grand Prix presented by the Singapore Tourism Boar © Eloi Stichelbaut for SailGP
The Australians made it to the podium at the inaugural Singapore Sail Grand Prix, securing a third place and more importantly retaining their seat at the top of the overall SailGP Season 3 leaderboard, with a dominant nine point lead on their Kiwi rivals, in second place.
After a mixed day of racing for Slingsby with a seventh and fourth place in the third and fourth fleet races, the relentless Aussies still managed to scrape their way into the Podium Final. It was then a face-off with their biggest rivals of the season, New Zealand, alongside Denmark.
Slingsby's crew had the quickest start of 63.4 km/h to the starting line, but it was the Kiwis who had the best angle to the first mark. A bad manoeuvre by Aussies on the third leg of the race sent them to the back of the pack before Denmark crashed into the water at Gate 3 - allowing the Kiwis to extend their lead to over 100m, securing the win with Denmark coming in second.
Nevertheless, the Australian's third place marks an impressive performance for the season leaders, considering the loss of wing trimmer Kyle Langford to injury just prior to the event.
Tom Slingsby said: "Results-wise we are extremely happy. I said going into this event that with these sorts of conditions and losing Kyle it was going to be a tough one for us. Today we didn't sail our best which was a little frustrating but we're looking good in the overalls and that's what we've got to think of, the bigger picture."
The Australians and the flying roo will now return to home waters for the next event, the KPMG Australia Sail Grand Prix I Sydney. The event takes place on February 18-19, and thousands of Australian fans are expected to descend on Sydney Harbour to support the green and gold team. Tickets to the event are still available via SailGP.com/Sydney
Tom Slingsby said: "We're really excited to get back down under for our Aussie event. We'll have all of our friends and family there who will be watching us. We're in good shape in the overalls and we feel like we can sail free and fast and hopefully get a good result for our home crowd."