Racing

Los Gallos Deny Australia to Win SailGP Geneva

By Sailing Times Newsroom·22 September 2026·7 min read

GENEVA — Spain’s Los Gallos beat Australia’s Bonds Flying Roos in Sunday’s final to win the Switzerland Sail Grand Prix on Lake Geneva. The result books Los Gallos a place in the 2026 Grand Final in Abu Dhabi and makes up for a missed Valencia final just two weeks ago. Australia finished runner-up for the second event in a row.

ROCKWOOL Racing took third after a strong weekend that included three wins from five fleet races. The Explora Journeys Swiss SailGP Team gave the home crowd plenty to cheer, reaching an event final for the third time this season. Building breeze across four qualifying group races set the stage for a winner-takes-all finale on the lake.

Diego Botín’s Los Gallos won the day’s opening race, Group A’s Race 3, taking the lead from the United States with a bold offshore route and never letting go. It was their first Geneva race win. Martine Grael held second for a while after a good start from the U.S. SailGP Team, but the group was turned on its head as Los Gallos climbed from fourth to first. Botín called it “a rollercoaster day.”

Australia led Race 4B from the first mark and cruised to a second Geneva win. NorthStar snatched second from Emirates GBR, leaving Canada and Britain split by a single point in the race for the last final berth.

DS Automobiles Team France led most of Group A’s fourth race, then lost the win to Nicolai Sehested’s ROCKWOOL Racing after a right-of-way infringement. Los Gallos crossed sixth and looked out of contention, until race management added two extra group races and reopened the whole qualifying picture.

Sébastien Schneiter’s Explora Journeys Swiss beat the Black Foils in Group B’s final qualifying race to claim their second Geneva win and a place in the final. New Zealand led early but faded outside the top two. Emirates GBR, who had held a final spot at one point along with Canada and the Kiwis, were the ones left out.

“It was pretty frustrating for us in the end,” Emirates GBR wing trimmer Stuart Bithell said. “As we know, the start is so important in SailGP and basically we didn’t deliver that in the last race. We were pretty disappointed to finish like that, but we’re in a great mood right now and we’ll come back fighting.”

“Today was a classic example. We were almost celebrating after the first race because we made the final, it’s been a while, and that’s probably our mistake. You’ve got to be on your toes because anything can happen in SailGP.”

Sehested made it three wins from five in the day’s last qualifying race, locking ROCKWOOL Racing into the final. Artemis took second but couldn’t catch Los Gallos, who squeezed through to the final in third.

Australia nailed the start in the final, but Los Gallos matched them stride for stride from the first gun as Explora Swiss dropped to fourth. The Bonds Flying Roos went right at the first gate for the favored offshore side. Botín split left toward the packed shoreline, thought better of it and tacked back, a move that looked costly at the time.

He hauled the Australians in anyway and took the lead, crossing to huge cheers on board and a wall of noise from the crowd. Champions in Geneva, a fortnight after missing the Valencia final altogether.

“It was a rollercoaster day with more races than we expected,” Botín said. “We were in the final, then we weren’t, and then we were again. Before this event we knew it was a game of anyone and that it was going to be about the last race, and that was the case.”

“We said before this event that winning here would need some luck, and it felt a bit like that as well,” he continued. “We’re super happy with the win. I think we’ve been working really well in these light conditions, which were probably the conditions where we were feeling the weakest. So yeah, it’s a good boost for the rest of the season.”

Tom Slingsby called the weekend “a copy and paste” of Valencia. “We started well all week, had a great start in the final, built a nice lead with one leg to go, and coughed it up,” the Bonds Flying Roos driver said.

“We’re sailing really well, so it’s bittersweet. I’m never happy with second, and to come second twice in a row and lose a lead, that’s what’s breaking me. But as a team, I’ll say it again, we’re sailing the best we’ve ever sailed. We made more gains this week.”

Schneiter had plenty to smile about too, even if the event win keeps slipping past him. “We’ve had some very nice events recently, three finals in five events,” he said. “We still have two this season to try to finally have this victory and take it off our shoulders, and then we can really focus on next year. But the team is really on the right track and we have to continue to believe in it.”

“We just need to get that win under our belt and get this off our shoulders. I think we’re all really motivated to work really hard to finally get it. It would have been an amazing, perfect scenario to do it here. It didn’t happen, but that’s racing.”

Sweden’s Artemis finished seventh on the event leaderboard but still climbed the overall standings, bumping the U.S. SailGP Team off the podium. “We didn’t have the greatest event but we somehow moved up,” Artemis driver Nathan Outteridge said. “It’s nice to be in the top three, but the points are still super close and there are still a few events to go. So we know we need to improve. You can see the top two teams are the top two teams for a reason.”

The Rolex SailGP Championship moves next to Dubai on November 21 and 22, the penultimate event of the 2026 season. Tickets to the Emirates Dubai Sail Grand Prix presented by DP World are on sale now.