Emirates GBR's Dylan Fletcher seals triumphant SailGP return
by SailGP Media 9 Feb 07:07 GMT
9 February 2025
The Emirates Great Britain SailGP Team have claimed their inaugural 2025 Season victory on Championship Sunday in Sydney.
The win was also a first for driver Dylan Fletcher after a hard-fought three-boat showdown against the Northstar Canada SailGP Team, who finished second, and hometown favorites, Australia in third.
Much of the Final saw Fletcher jostle for first with the man he replaced at the start of the season - Canadian driver and double Olympic gold medalist, Giles Scott. Fletcher claimed a narrow defeat, rounding the last mark just meters ahead of Scott to claim victory in front of thousands of cheering fans watching from Shark Island and the official spectator fleet.
Celebrating, Fletcher said, "Personally it's massive where we've come - from the start of SailGP in 2019, where I began my journey. To return and win here is amazing. I'm just really proud of the whole team and how they've included me."
Emirates Great Britain Team CEO Sir Ben Ainslie agreed: "What an amazing race," he said, continuing, "I'm so proud of them. Dylan has done brilliantly - he's world class and that's why we wanted to get him into this game. He's got a top team around him and what's impressive is how quickly he's gelled into this group."
Conceding the loss of his home title, Australia SailGP Team driver Tom 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 shoe in, but it didn't quite go our way and that's sport."
The Australians finished on the podium in every race this weekend, showing clearly that they remain one of the league's form teams. SailGP once again adopted its 'Super Sunday' format in Sydney - three 11-boat fleet races followed by a winner-takes-all final. The first fleet race went the way of the Brits, with Fletcher taking an early lead, sailing to victory ahead of the Kiwis in second and Australia in third.
In Fleet Race 6, the Black Foils took their first race win of the weekend ahead of Canada and Australia but it wasn't enough to keep the Kiwis in the hunt after a disappointing opening day, in which the team accumulated just seven points on the event leaderboard. New Zealand came eighth in Sydney, bumping the team off the podium and into fourth in the overalls.
In the seventh and final Fleet Race of the weekend, Denmark once again narrowly missed out in a tight battle for third, with the Black Foils playing spoiler for the Danish crew, twice forcing additional maneuvers, causing the crew to struggle to keep up, falling behind the Canadians.
Rockwool Denmark SailGP Team driver Nicolai Sehested said, "It's a bit frustrating missing out on another final. We made some mistakes, but we're happy that we can finish fourth in a weekend that feels good for us."
With the points from Sydney now tallied, Emirates Great Britain has bolstered in the Rolex SailGP 2025 Season leaderboard, with 27 points. Australia is now second overall with 24 points and Spain rounds out the podium in third with 20 points.
Next up, all eyes turn to the U.S. slate of events - a triple header in Los Angeles (March 16-17, 2025), San Francisco (March 23-24, 2025) and New York (June 8-9, 2025) - plus an iconic first stop in the stunning Rio de Janeiro, May 4-5, 2025.