Tom Slingsby juggles AUS and USA

Named 2022 Male Sailor of the Year by Australian Sailing, Tom Slingsly will be swapping the green and gold for the stars and stripes when he represents the United States at the next America’s Cup.

Slingsby has been a hot commodity as the helmsman for the 2-time SailGP champion Team Australia, which was crowned 2022 Team of the Year at the World Sailing Awards. But now he will be juggling a new goal too.

While Australia hasn’t had a boat compete since the 2000 edition, the 38-year-old returns to familiar territory.

Slingsby was the strategist for Oracle Team USA’s America’s Cup win in 2013 and will now contribute to the USA challenger American Magic team in 2024. And while his Olympic gold medal in London 2012 was for Australia, Slingsby is half-American.

“My mum is fully American and I’m proud that I can race for both. I’ve got an Australian and a US passport. My dad’s 100% Australian. My mum’s 100% American.

“I was born and raised in Australia. I think of myself as an Australian but if I can compete for any other country, I’m glad it’s the US and I can make my mum proud.”

Slingsby will have to manage a unique juggling act in the lead-up to the America’s Cup as he retains his role as skipper and CEO of Team Australia.

“I will still be doing all my SailGP events,” he said. “That was a non-negotiable in my contract. I said ‘I’m here to stay with SailGP and I want to keep my role with Team Australia’ and they’ve allowed that. I’ll be competing in all the events.

“It is going to be tough. For sure my schedule is crazy. I’m going to be working full-time in Barcelona and I get one week a month to travel to a SailGP event around the world and then straight to Barcelona and straight back to full-time work.”

Slingsby has been with the American team at their winter base in Florida but will be competing at the Dubai SailGP event on November 12-13 where his team is currently the Season Three leaders after six of 11 events.

Note: This report has been corrected, as it previously stated Australia had not competed in the America’s Cup since 1987.

SailGP information – Dubai details – Season 3 scoreboard – YouTube – How to watch

Season Three Standings (after six of 11 events)
1. Australia (Tom Slingsby), 50 points
2. New Zealand (Peter Burling), 46 points
3. France (Quintin Delapierre), 41 points
4. Great Britain (Ben Ainslie), 40 points
5. Canada (Phil Robertson), 36 points
6. Denmark (Nicolai Sehested), 36 points
7. United States (Jimmy Spithill), 34 points
8. Spain (Jordi Xammar), 19 points
9. Switzerland (Sebastien Schneiter), 14 points

2022-23 SailGP Season 3 Schedule
May 14-15, 2022 – Bermuda Sail Grand Prix presented by Hamilton Princess
June 18-19, 2022 – United States Sail Grand Prix | Chicago at Navy Pier
July 30-31, 2022 – Great Britain Sail Grand Prix | Plymouth
August 19-20, 2022 – ROCKWOOL Denmark Sail Grand Prix | Copenhagen
September 10-11, 2022 – France Sail Grand Prix | Saint-Tropez
September 24-25, 2022 – Spain Sail Grand Prix | Andalucía – Cádiz
November 12-13, 2022 – Dubai Sail Grand Prix presented by P&O Marinas
January 13-14, 2023 – Singapore Sail Grand Prix
February 17-18, 2023 – Australia Sail Grand Prix | Sydney
March 17-18, 2023 – New Zealand Sail Grand Prix | Christchurch
May 6-7, 2023 – United States Sail Grand Prix | San Francisco (Season 3 Grand Final)

Format for 2022-23 SailGP events:
• Teams compete in identical F50 catamarans.
• Each event runs across two days.
• There are three qualifying races each day for all nine teams.*
• The top three teams from qualifying advance to a final race to be crowned event champion and earn the largest share of the $300,000 prize money to be split among the top three teams.
• The season ends with the Grand Final, which includes the Championship Final Race – a winner-takes-all match race for the $1m prize.
* Qualifying schedule increased from five to six races at France SailGP.

For competition documents, click here.

Established in 2018, SailGP seeks to be an annual, global sports league featuring fan-centric inshore racing in some of the iconic harbors around the globe. Rival national teams compete in identical F50 catamarans for event prize money as the season culminates with a $1 million winner-takes-all match race.

Source: news.com.au, Scuttlebutt