Grand Final race tightens on Lake Geneva as Grael joins U.S. SailGP Team
SailGP returns to Lake Geneva this weekend (September 19-20) as teams prepare for one of the final tests of the 2026 Season. In a venue known for complex, changeable breeze, Explora Journeys Swiss SailGP Team driver Sébastien Schneiter is banking on a home advantage.
Martine Grael, interim driver of United States SailGP Team, in action alongside Anna Weis, grinder and jib trimmer of United States SailGP Team, during a practice racing session ahead of the Switzerland Sail Grand Prix in Geneva, Switzerland. Photo: Felix Diemer for SailGP. Handout image supplied by SailGP
“You really need to know Lake Geneva and all the shifts,” Schneiter said. “We’re going to see the wind coming from the shore and we really have to navigate on the specifics of the lake. The start is also super important. We know that in these conditions, one mistake can make you disappear, so as a team we’re going to focus a lot on the start.”
The event marks the 11th of 13 in the 2026 Season, as teams push to book their place in the winner-takes-all Grand Final in Abu Dhabi in November. Only Australia’s Bonds Flying Roos are confirmed, with all but two teams mathematically still in contention for the $2 million race.
Entering the weekend in podium position (third), the U.S. SailGP Team confirmed that double Olympic champion Martine Grael will step in for driver Taylor Canfield after her shock exit from Mubadala Brazil earlier this week. Canfield is ruled out to injury, having suffered a broken collarbone during a bike accident.
“I didn’t understand what I was going to do in the future, and then I got a phone call saying that Taylor got injured. It’s a great pity because they’re doing such a good job and they’re really in great chances to go to the final,” Grael said.
“The good thing is that it hasn’t been so long since I’ve seen it last,” she continued. “It’s only been like a week and a half now, so I’m still warmed up from the other events. But I think, when you get to a new team, you need to understand how they work. And that’s the most important part, is to try to work with this team because they’ve obviously been doing a very good job. Of course, I want to adapt to how they’re sailing and get the best out of them.”
Photo: Ricardo Pinto for SailGP. Handout image supplied by SailGP
The Mubadala Brazil SailGP Team will be helmed by Paul Goodison, who joined the team as strategist. Commenting on the details of Grael’s exit, Goodison said “We were really unsure about what had happened. We just heard that Martine had left, so it put us all in a little bit of a spin.”
Kahena Kunze is on loan to Brazil from ROCKWOOL Denmark, forming what Goodison says is a new beginning for Mubadala Brazil. “I think we’re in a new era,” he said. “We need to look forward to how we can start improving. Obviously, we’re at the back of the fleet at the moment, we don’t have many points on the board and we’ve got to look forward. How do we start getting the points on the board? What do we need to change? We just keep trusting in our process, keep working forward and hopefully the results will come.”
This weekend will mark the first time two women have competed alongside one another in the same team, as Grael takes the wheel alongside the U.S. SailGP Team grinder Anna Weis.
“Anna is one of those great athletes and a great friend as well, and it’s really incredible to work together,” said Grael. “[Anna is] one of these people you admire for their work ethic and how strong they are in their pursuit for greatness. It’s really inspiring to sail beside Anna, and it is going to be fun.”
The United States will race in Group A alongside Artemis, Los Gallos, ROCKWOOL Racing, Mubadala Brazil, Germany by Deutsche Bank and DS Automobiles France. Group B brings together Emirates GBR, the Bonds Flying Roos, New Zealand’s Black Foils, Canadian team NorthStar, Explora Journeys Swiss and Red Bull Italy.
Secured in the final with a 17-point lead, championship frontrunner Tom Slingsby, driver for the Bonds Flying Roos, said he “wouldn’t have a clue” on who is most likely to join him in the final.
“Emirates GBR are the defending champions and people have written them off before and they’ve come back and shocked everyone, so don’t count them out. Nathan Outteridge is a light-air specialist also. I’m not sure. I’m just a fan. I’m going to sit back and watch, hopefully stay out of everyone’s way, because I wouldn’t have a clue.”
Day 1 – Five Races, Five Winners: Swiss Light Up Shifty Opening Day on Lake Geneva
A light, shifty opening day on Lake Geneva saw five different winners in five fleet races. The Explora Journeys Swiss SailGP Team gave the crowds a reason to cheer, finishing on the podium in two of three fleet races, including a standout victory in race 2 – their first ever at home.
Photo: Felix Diemer for SailGP. Handout image supplied by SailGP
Foiling conditions were limited as the fleet struggled in winds as low as 5km/h at times. Those able to read the shifts and find the tiniest puffs were rewarded with distance around the course, while a wrong move proved costly for those stuck in the fickle breeze.
The Rolex Switzerland Sail Grand Prix is the 11th stop of 13 in the 2026 Season – a crucial test for those hoping to keep their Grand Final hopes alive. After two fleet races, Rockwool Racing and Artemis fared the best in Group A with 6 points each, while the Bonds Flying Roos and New Zealand’s Black Foils lead Group B having picked up 10 and 9 points, respectively across three fleet races. Group A’s third fleet race will be staged tomorrow.
NorthStar won the Geneva opener after leading from mark one, with the Black Foils second despite an early penalty. The Bonds Flying Roos won the start but were penalised for board cycling along with the Black Foils, while home team Explora Journeys Swiss finished last after a disastrous start.
Group A’s opening fleet race went the way of ‘wind whisperer,’ Nathan Outteridge who got Artemis foiling first and they won Group A’s opener, with Germany second and Los Gallos third after holding off France. Brazil were penalised for starting early and Los Gallos for board cycling, and the U.S. (sixth) and Brazil (seventh) scored no points.
Photo: Ricardo Pinto for SailGP. Handout image supplied by SailGP
Group leader after day one, Outteridge is well placed for a much-needed event final on day two in Geneva. “Every race matters,” he said. “The points don’t count more now than they did in Perth, but we’re just slowly getting better at various little things. It was nice to have a reasonable day today, but there’s a long way to go tomorrow.
“The points are super tight in our group, and as we saw today, the conditions really make life challenging. So yeah, a lot to think about tonight, and hopefully we can come out tomorrow, get another good start and try and find a spot in the Final at this event.”
The moment of the day came in Group B’s second race, as Switzerland went from last to first for their first-ever home win, with Australia second and the Black Foils third.
“It was a tricky day for us,” said driver Sébastien Schneiter. “It didn’t start well but we bounced back as a team and had a good last race again. So we’re fired up, ready for tomorrow. Very tight on points so we have to go race by race and try to win the races.
“I didn’t remember lake racing to be so stressful to be honest. It’s good fun, I was telling the team we weren’t foiling that much but it’s still fun racing. It was great to see so much support on shore, we can definitely feel the crowd’s support. It was special, with light winds I could hear really well and the crowd was really behind us. We can’t wait to go back on the water tomorrow.”
ROCKWOOL Racing overtook Mubadala Brazil around the outside at the final mark to win group A’s second race, with Paul Goodison’s Mubadala Brazil second and DS Automobiles France third.
Photo: Ricardo Pinto for SailGP. Handout image supplied by SailGP
In his first event as driver since Martine Grael’s shock exit, Goodison said: “I think it’s a great day for us. We came away knowing that we’ve got to address the starts, and then to be over in the first one by only 200mm after we were sailing away was pretty frustrating. It could have easily gone the other way.
“The team got back together and we did a great job in the second one. It was just unfortunate that the Danish slipped by at the end, but I think we’re pretty happy. It’s good to see the new team can come back after a bit of adversity.”
In the final fleet race of the day (3B), the Bonds Flying Roos led from mark one to take their first Geneva win, with Emirates GBR getting inside Red Bull Italy at the top mark to finish second. A late penalty for Red Bull Italy let Explora Journeys Swiss take third, as NorthStar finished last – making it five different winners from five races.
It was a disappointing debut for Martine Grael as driver of the U.S. SailGP Team – in for Taylor Canfield, out with a broken collarbone – picking up zero points on the event leaderboard after two fleet races (6, 6).
Grael said: “The wind was pretty light today, so it created a lot of turbulent air. Sometimes the choices were more about getting into clean air rather than necessarily taking the shortest route.” Continuing, “I think we’re ready to make better decisions tomorrow.”
Day 2 – Los Gallos Deny Australia to Take SailGP Geneva Victory
Los Gallos took the win on Lake Geneva – booking their spot in the 2026 Grand Final in Abu Dhabi alongside the Bonds Flying Roos. Spain defeated the Australian crew, who became runners-up for the second consecutive event.
Photo: Jonathan Nackstrand for SailGP. Handout image supplied by SailGP
ROCKWOOL Racing finished third after a dominant weekend that included three wins in five fleet races, as the Explora Journeys Swiss SailGP Team delighted the home crowd with their third event final appearance of the 2026 Season. It was an action-packed day on Lake Geneva, as teams took advantage of building breeze across four qualifying group races before the winner-takes-all event final.
In the opener – Race 3, Group A – Diego Botín’s Los Gallos took the lead from the United States with a bold offshore route and never handed it back, sealing their first Geneva race win. Martine Grael held second after a strong start for the U.S. SailGP Team, but the bigger story was Group A turned upside down – as Los Gallos moved from fourth to first in what driver Botín called “a rollercoaster day.”
In Race 4B, the Australians led from the first mark and cruised to their second Geneva win, as NorthStar snatched second from Emirates GBR – leaving Canada and Britain split by a single point in the fight for the last Final berth.
DS Automobiles Team France led for most of Group A’s fourth race, before a right-of-way infringement handed the win to Nicolai Sehested’s ROCKWOOL Racing. Los Gallos crossed sixth and looked to be slipping out of contention – until two extra group races were confirmed by race management – reopening the whole thing.
Sébastien Schneiter’s Explora Journeys Swiss overturned the Black Foils to claim their second Geneva win in Group B’s final qualifying group race, earning their place in the event final. New Zealand led early and faded outside the top two, while Emirates GBR – who along with Canada and the Kiwis held a final spot at some point during the race – ended up the one to miss out.
Emirates GBR wing trimmer Stuart Bithell reflected on a frustrating weekend: “It was pretty frustrating for us in the end,” 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.”
Nicolai Sehested made it three wins from five to lock ROCKWOOL Racing into the Final in the final qualifying group race of the day. Artemis took second but couldn’t overhaul Los Gallos – squeezing through to the final with third.
In the final, Australia nailed the start but Los Gallos went toe-to-toe with them from the first gun – while Explora Swiss were dumped out the back into fourth. The Bonds Flying Roos went right at the first gate towards the favoured offshore side, as Diego Botín split left towards the packed shoreline – only to think better of it and tack back; a move that looked costly at the time.
Photo: Jason Ludlow for SailGP. Handout image supplied by SailGP
Instead, Botín hauled the Aussies back in and took the lead, crossing to huge cheers onboard and a wall of noise from the crowd. Champions in Geneva, a fortnight after missing the Valencia Final altogether.
Botín said, “It was a rollercoaster day with more races than we expected. 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.”
Bonds Flying Roos driver Tom Slingsby called the weekend “a copy and paste” from 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,” Slingsby continued.
“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.”
Photo: Ricardo Pinto for SailGP. Handout image supplied by SailGP
For Explora Journeys Swiss driver Sébastien Schneiter, the weekend offered plenty of reasons to smile – despite a SailGP event win continuing to allude him. Schneiter said, “We’ve had some very nice events recently, three finals in five events. 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.”
Schneiter continued, “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.”
Despite finishing seventh on the event leaderboard, Sweden’s Artemis managed to move up on the overall standings – bumping the U.S. SailGP Team out of podium position.
Artemis driver Nathan Outteridge said, “We didn’t have the greatest event but we somehow moved up. It’s nice to be in the top three but the points are still super close and there’s 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 (November 21-22, 2026) – the penultimate event of the 2026 Season. Tickets to the Emirates Dubai Sail Grand Prix presented by DP World are on sale now. Find out more at SailGP.com/Dubai
