America's Cup: Spanish Gold medalists and SailGP World Champs join French AC team
by Richard Gladwell Sail-World NZ 5 Mar 13:36 PST
Diego Botin (ESP) - Los Gallos - Day 1 - Mubadala Abu Dhabi Sail Grand Prix Season Grand Final - November 29, 2025 © Ricardo Pinto/SailGP
2024 Olympic Gold Medalists in the 49er class, and 2024 SailGP champions, Diego Botín and Florian Trittel (ESP), have suspended their 2028 Olympic program, and will sail with the French team K-Challenge in their build up to the 2027 America's Cup in Naples.
The 49er class website reports that they will not compete in 49er regattas in 2026 season, but plan to maintain a technical training program in the class.
In 2027, they will combine the America’s Cup campaign with a return to 49er competition at the World Championship in Gdynia, Poland. The event will mark the first opportunity for nations to secure Olympic qualification spots for Los Angeles 2028.
After the America’s Cup concludes in the summer of 2027, the pair will fully resume their 49er Olympic campaign with the goal of arriving in Los Angeles ready to compete again at the highest level, 49er.org says.
Diego Botín and Florian Trittel have reached this stage of their careers at the very top of the sport. In October 2025, off the coast of Cagliari, they captured the one title that had eluded them in the 49er class: the world championship gold medal.
They achieved it after a year-long break following their victory at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. The championship was their first Olympic-class competition since winning Olympic gold, and they had dedicated just two months to specific 49er training.
Balancing multiple high-performance campaigns is nothing new for the pair. While pursuing Olympic success, they also competed in the SailGP circuit with the Spain SailGP Team, winning Season 4 after defeating Australia and New Zealand in the San Francisco final—just two weeks before the Olympic regatta began in Marseille.
That remarkable run earned them the 2024 World Sailor of the Year award.
“The America’s Cup represents an enormous professional challenge and a huge opportunity to grow as sailors,” said Diego Botín. “But we also feel that we still have a lot to give in the 49er. The motivation to try to repeat our success from Paris in Los Angeles is what drives us. Combining both projects will make us better sailors.”
Florian Trittel added:
“We’re coming off an incredible run, winning SailGP Season 4, Olympic gold, and then the 49er World Championship, which was the title we were missing. Now it’s time to evolve and take on new challenges, while keeping our goal of competing for Olympic glory again in 2028.”
For those wondering about SailGP, Trittel confirmed the plan is to continue there as well: “Yes, the plan is to keep doing both. Then after the Cup we’ll return fully to the 49er.”