Australia yesterday won the New Zealand leg of the SailGP series, which was overshadowed by a crash on Saturday involving New Zealand and France that left a sailor from each team with serious injuries.
Driver Tom Slingsby steered the Australian Flying Roos to victory in the three-boat final ahead of Spain and the UK. The UK won the first event of the series in Perth, Australia, and now share the overall series lead with the Australians.
Organizers broke the fleet into two groups for racing on the second day because of expected high winds.
Photo: EPA
For the first time in SailGP history 13 boats competed on Saturday and congestion on a narrow course might have been a factor in the crash, which saw the New Zealand and French boats extensively damaged.
French strategist Manon Audinet was hurled so violently into the left steering wheel on Team DS France that she broke it while sustaining abdominal injuries.
Louis Sinclair, a grinder for New Zealand, sustained compound fractures to both legs when the Black Foils and France collided at almost 90kph.
The third race of the Auckland leg of the 12-nation competition for catamarans was abandoned.
“Sinclair has had successful surgery on his right leg overnight after injuries sustained during yesterday’s collision with France,’ the New Zealand team said in a statement, adding that it would conduct a comprehensive review of the incident in coordination with SailGP.
The New Zealand boat made a close pass in front of the French. Headed for the Italian boat, the Black Foils spun and jumped back into the path of the French. The French tried to steer away, but sideswiped the Black Foils.
“Everything happened so quickly — it’s still super cloudy in my head and I haven’t reviewed the footage or spoken to the umpires,” France’s Quentin Delapierre said. “This was tough for everyone on both teams.”
New Zealand and France now face a tight schedule to repair their boats in time for the next leg of the series in Sydney, which starts on Feb. 28.
France sustained damage to one hull, but New Zealand’s yacht seems to be far more extensively damaged.
Sailors yesterday raced in gusty conditions ahead of an impending thunderstorm and the highest speed recorded by any of the matching 15.3m catamarans was 101.99kph.
US national team star Folarin Balogun was among the scorers as AS Monaco on Friday won 3-1 at Paris Saint-Germain, dealing a blow to the side from the French capital before they face Chelsea in a crunch UEFA Champions League round-of-16 tie. Maghnes Akliouche gave Monaco a first-half lead at the Parc des Princes, and Aleksandr Golovin doubled their advantage early in the second half of the French Ligue 1 clash. Bradley Barcola pulled one back for the reigning European champions, but Balogun struck shortly after with a fifth goal in his last five games as Monaco claimed a precious
West Ham United on Monday advanced to the FA Cup quarter-finals with a 5-3 penalty shoot-out win against Brentford, who paid the price for Dango Ouattara’s spot-kick blunder. Nuno Espirito Santo’s side twice blew the lead as Jarrod Bowen’s double was canceled out by an Igor Thiago brace to force extra-time in the 2-2 draw at the London Stadium, but in the shoot-out, Brentford winger Ouattara attempted a chipped Panenka penalty, but his woeful effort was straight at West Ham goalkeeper Alphonse Areola. It was an awful mistake by the Burkina Faso international and West Ham took full advantage. Bowen, Valentin Castellanos, Callum
Teenage star Lamine Yamal’s superbly-taken goal on Saturday earned Barcelona a 1-0 win at Athletic Bilbao in Spanish La Liga. The champions restored their four-point lead over second-placed Real Madrid, who had on Friday temporarily closed the gap by beating Celta Vigo. Atletico Madrid tightened their grip on third with an entertaining 3-2 win over Real Sociedad. Yamal, 18, curled into the top corner after 68 minutes to split the sides at Athletic’s San Mames stadium. “We’re already seeing what Lamine can do — he puts it right in the top corner, and there’s nothing the keeper can do,” Barca
CHANCE TO QUALIFY: Both teams now have three points from two games, and Taiwan sit ahead of Vietnam and behind Japan, who last night beat India 11-0 Taiwan yesterday defeated Vietnam 1-0 to move into second place in Group C at the AFC Women’s Asian Cup with one match remaining. Su Yu-hsuan scored the decisive goal in the 26th minute after Taiwan midfielder Saki Matsunaga’s shot hit the crossbar, leaving Su to nod the rebound into an empty net for the team which won the last of their three Asian Cup titles in 1981. It was a deserved victory for Taiwan, 2-0 losers to Japan on Wednesday, who created several chances to extend their lead. Vietnam, the 2022 quarter-finalist, beat India in their opener, but struggled to
RSS