Tom Slingsby’s Australia SailGP Team emerged as victors on the final day of the ROCKWOOL Denmark Sail Grand Prix – beating Japan and Great Britain in the final podium race.
The hard-fought consecutive event wins maintain the Aussies position at the top of the Season 2 championship leaderboard,
Ainslie’s British team finished third in ‘tortoise and hare’ light racing conditions.
The final three-way battle between Australia, Great Britain, and Japan had the teams grappling for position on a shortened, shifty course, searching for wind, and struggling with contentious umpire decisions.
Wind hunting was the theme of the day and Japan had the most success finding it. Outteridge – a.k.a. The Wind Whisperer – and his team pulled off two race wins to solidify a place in the final podium race.
Although winning the entire event was a strong likelihood, Japan ended up in the runner-up position in Denmark, following controversy with Ainslie’s British team.
The Brits were hit with a double penalty against Japan – the first for the initial incident and a second for taking too long to shake the penalty.
Disgruntled and dismayed, the umpire’s double-layer penalty knocked the wind out of the British team, inevitably relegating them to a third place finish.
The Denmark Sail Grand Prix ended with Jimmy Spithill’s U.S. team in fourth – missing the final podium race by one point – Peter Burling’s New Zealand in fifth, Denmark in sixth, and Spain and France taking seventh and eighth spots, respectively.
ROCKWOOL Denmark Sail Grand Prix 2021 // Aarhus
1 // Australia
2 // Japan
3 // Great Britain
4 // United States
5 // New Zealand
6 // Denmark
7 // Spain
8 // France
SailGP Season Championship leaderboard (after 4 events):
1 // Australia // 32 pts
2 // Great Britain // 30 pts
3 // Japan // 28 pts
4 // United States // 26 pts
5 // France // 24 pts
6 // New Zealand // 23 pts
7 // Spain // 23 pts
8 // Denmark // 22 pts
