REPORT: BONDS Flying Roos Top Day 1 Standings In Rio; U.S. SailGP Team A Close Second

The U.S. SailGP Team goes 3-4-5-5 to sit in Final contention at halfway in Rio

Published 04/11/2026

The Rolex SailGP Championship kicked off its first visit to South America with the iconic skyline of Rio de Janeiro and Sugarloaf Mountain providing a dramatic backdrop to racing.

Light conditions defined Saturday’s racing, with teams running the smaller 27.5m wing and just four crew members. It was driver Taylor Canfield, wing trimmer Michael Menninger, flight controller Hans Henken and grinder Anna Weis on board for the U.S. SailGP Team.

Twelve teams were due to line up for Race 1, with New Zealand Black Foils still ruled out following their collision with DS Automobiles France in Auckland. Early heartbreak struck hometown heroes Mubadala Brazil, though, as a telemetry issue ruled them out of Race 1.

An over-eager NorthStar Canada and Red Bull Italy were hit with early penalties for starting early, with Los Gallos and Artemis Sweden trading first and second throughout the first half of the race. The U.S. SailGP team sat fourth behind DS Automobiles France, before grabbing P3 and then P2 as the race progressed.

While championship leaders Emirates GBR retired with foiling system trouble, the Crew couldn’t hold off a late charge from Bonds Flying Roos, ultimately taking P3 behind the Australians and victorious Swedish team.

Mudabala Brazil remained absent for the second race of the afternoon, with the U.S. SailGP Team getting another strong start, Canfield and the rest of the Crew expertly managing the light conditions.

However, Spain’s Los Gallos were almost untouchable in P1 throughout as Artemis and Germany Deutsche Bank jostled for P2 and P3. The U.S. SailGP Team comfortably held on to P4, only briefly dropping behind Emirates GBR before reclaiming the position to bring home another strong points return.

Race 3 kicked off to the delight of the local fans with the Brazilian team lining up in the start box. Another blanket start saw the U.S. SailGP Team execute superbly, but nobody could compete with Red Bull Italy, who held a commanding lead throughout the race.

The U.S. SailGP Team were running well in third before starting to drop back in the second half of the race, but P5 was enough to collect another six points. Ahead of them were DS Automobiles France, the Bonds Flying Roos, ROCKWOOL Denmark and the dominant Italians.

In the final fleet race of the day, the U.S. SailGP Team started strongly once more and were battling the BONDS Flying Roos for the lead into M1, ultimately taking another P5 in a chaotic race.

Ahead of them, Germany Deutsche Bank got up on the foils at the last minute to pass both ROCKWOOL Denmark and the Roos to take the win.

Heading into Sunday, the Crew sits in P2 on 27 points, a solitary point behind overall leaders the BONDS Flying Roos. Rounding out the top three is Artemis with 26 points.

Racing resumes on Sunday, April 12 at 15:00 BRT, with the U.S. SailGP Team in a strong position to progress into the winner-takes-all final for the second event running.

2026 Enel Rio Sail Grand Prix

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