Phil Robertson yesterday steered Team Canada to its first SailGP victory by recovering from a penalty late in the podium race in Christchurch to deny Peter Burling and Team New Zealand a victory in home waters.
Robertson, himself a New Zealander, sailed his foiling 50-foot catamaran aggressively in the three-boat final to win the ITM New Zealand Sail Grand Prix, the penultimate regatta of tech tycoon Larry Ellison’s global league.
Two-time defending SailGP champion Team Australia, which finished third in the podium race, and Team New Zealand remain 1-2 in the season standings heading into the final regatta in San Francisco on May 6-7, which will conclude with a US$1 million, winner-take-all Grand Final among the top three boats.
Photo: AFP / Ricardo Pinto / SailGP
The victory was huge for Canada, which is in its first season in SailGP. The Canadians reached the podium races in the season’s first two regattas, but did not reach another final race until yesterday.
Their wingsail was smashed and the platform damaged during an intense storm that hit just after racing concluded in the previous regatta in Sydney on Feb. 18. The rest of that regatta was canceled and the damage was repaired in time for this regatta.
The Canadian crewmembers whooped and hollered as their catamaran held off the Kiwis heading into the finish line and then had their first onboard champagne celebration.
“It’s awesome. I’m so stoked to win at home,” said Robertson, who sailed in front of several family members. “It’s super, super special for me. I’ve got good mates on the shore. I haven’t raced here before so I’m pumped. For Canada, it’s just amazing. This team is pretty new and pretty fresh, and we’ve been working hard to be competitive with all these top teams. Today’s just an example of what we can do when we put it all together.”
Australia, skippered by Olympic gold medalist and former America’s Cup champion Tom Slingsby, leads the standings with 84 points. The Aussies are to sail for a third straight US$1 million check, barring serious damage to their catamaran or a major penalty.
The Kiwis are second with 73 points. France is third with 69 and Emirates Great Britain is fourth with 68. Denmark has 60 and Canada 59 in the nine-boat fleet.
Slingsby, in fifth place after Saturday’s three fleet races, won Sunday’s two fleet races wire-to-wire to earn a spot in the podium race. Canada squeaked into the podium race by one point over Britain.
Jonas Vingegaard on Tuesday claimed the overall Vuelta a Espana lead while Jay Vine earned the stage 10 victory for his second triumph of the race. Two-time Tour de France winner Vingegaard overhauled Torstein Traen’s lead to head the general classification by 26 seconds from the Norwegian, with Joao Almeida third and trailing the Dane by 38 seconds. Vine put in an unmatchable performance on the final climb to finish ahead of Spanish Movistar riders Pablo Castrillo and Javier Romo. “Back in red, I’m happy with it, it’s a beautiful jersey,” Vingegaard said. “I’m happy with how the day went,
RIVALRY: Carlos Alcaraz lost his previous two matches against Serbia’s Novak Djokovic, in the Australian Open quarter-finals this year and Paris Olympics final last year Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz on Tuesday dazzled at the US Open to make the semi-finals before Novak Djokovic of Serbia danced his way through to book a New York showdown with the Spaniard that would mark the latest chapter in their generational rivalry. Former champion Alcaraz produced yet another entertaining display at Flushing Meadows to dismantle 20th seed Jiri Lehecka 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 at a sunbathed Arthur Ashe Stadium, securing his place in the last four without dropping a set this year. “Sometimes I play a shot that I should not play in that moment, but it’s the way I love
Australian Alex de Minaur reached the second week of the US Open for the third year in a row with little fanfare on Saturday and said he intended to keep winning until the tournament organizers were forced to give him better billing. Despite being the eighth seed and a quarter-finalist last year at Flushing Meadows, De Minaur’s third-round match against German Daniel Altmaier was scheduled for Court 17 — the smallest of the four stadium venues in the precinct. “It is a little bit of a headscratcher for me. I’m not gonna lie,” he told reporters after progressing 6-7 (9/7), 6-3, 6-4,
Spain are in danger of not getting out of EuroBasket Group C after losing 67-63 to Italy on Tuesday, but the defending champions still control their destiny. Marco Spissu put Italy in front for good at 64-63 with two free throws with 31 seconds left and made two more with 14 seconds remaining. Giampaolo Ricci converted one of two free throws with eight seconds on the clock. Spain, which in 2022 won their fourth title, are tied with Georgia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina at 2-2 each. Greece and Italy have clinched two of the group’s four spots in the round-of-16,
RSS