05/12/2026
by James Pacheco
Within the next few minutes, you’re going to be fully up-to-date with all the latest odds to win the event ahead of the ENEL Rio Sail Grand Prix.
But before we get to that, it’s time for a quick recap of what happened last time out at the SailGP 2026 | KPMG Sydney Sail Grand Prix. It seems like an eternity ago now but in reality it was just under six weeks ago…
What Happened in Sydney?
The U.S SailGP Team won the event against all odds.
And those aren’t words that are being used lightly. Though they had won two events in the Rolex SailGP Championship in previous seasons, they had never done so with Taylor Canfield as their driver.
That was part of the reason why they went into the Sydney event as the 60.0 outsiders, given just a 1.7% chance in terms of implied probability before the F50s took to the water on the Saturday.
But a combination of a ‘really good plan’ (Canfield’s words, not ours), staying out of trouble, and making the most of conditions that suited the Americans, made a mockery of those odds. Here are some more details of what happened on that dramatic Sunday.
Two Clear Favorites For the Championship
In the Sydney final, Emirates Great Britain SailGP Team ended as runners-up, while Los Gallos SailGP Team were third.
That was enough to see Emirates GBR top the Championship standings on 28 points, with the BONDS Flying Roos SailGP Team just behind them on 25 after missing out on the Final on home waters. The Americans climbed up to third on 20 points after that win last time out.
There may be 10 more events to be completed but the bookies are already making this something of a two-boat race, with the Brits 2.32 to defend the SailGP title they won last year and the Aussies just a bit bigger in the betting at 2.38.
Next up are DS Automobiles SailGP Team France at 7.69, who were consistent in the one-and-a-half events they’ve raced in so far. But of course, failure to take part in the races they missed out on due to a crash in Auckland deprived them of the chance to pick up points there.
As for the third member of what is something of SailGP’s ‘Big Three’ – the Black Foils SailGP Team – they continue to be paying the price for an extremely unfortunate start to the season. Points deductions in the first two races of the season were followed by missing out in Sydney entirely (their boat wasn’t in condition to race), meaning they have it all to do. They’ve been ruled out of racing in Rio, and the next time we see them in action may only be in late August in Sassnitz.
Which explains their odds of 100.0 to go on and win the Championship.
So, as expected, it’s the usual two who have been chalked up as the favorites for the ENEL Rio Sail Grand Prix: Emirates GBR are 3.76 and the BONDS Flying Roos are 3.98.
The odds on Dylan Fletcher’s British crew winning here again in Rio are understandable; they’ve been very much the form team over the past few months.
If we were to take the last six events of the Rolex SailGP Championship – made up of the last three of the 2025 season and the first three of this one – they’ve won three of them. And to those, we can of course add that they also won the Mubadala Abu Dhabi SailGP Grand Prix 2025 Season Grand Final presented by Abu Dhabi Sports Council. So no surprises they’re the odds they are for Rio.
But if there’s one thing the Brits won’t be able to count on, it’s experience of racing here before at Guanabara Bay. Then again, no-one can, as such.
Martine In Her Element
This will be the first-ever SailGP event ever held not just in Brazil, but in South America as a whole.
But as pointed out in our ‘Five things to look out for in Rio’ preview piece, no fewer than fourteen SailGP athletes won Olympic medals when the sailing events of the 2016 Rio Olympics were held at this very venue. So plenty of the teams have at least one crew member on board who’s experienced these unique conditions before.
But no-one can lay claim to having local knowledge the way that Martine Grael, driver of the Mubadala Brazil SailGP Team, can.
As explained in that same article, she ‘grew up sailing the bay, watching her father Torben – a five-time Olympic medallist – and two-time medal-winner uncle Lars race in the same waters.’ For good measure, she also secured Olympic gold here back in 2016.
Still, that’s not enough to convince the bookies that her team is one of the likeliest winners.
Mubadala Brazil are out at 23.95 to win the event, with only the Switzerland SailGP Team (46.35) and the NorthStar SailGP Team (42.69) bigger than them in the pre-event betting.
That said, it is worth remembering the US SailGP Team were the biggest outsiders of the lot ahead of Sydney, and we all know how that turned out.
Starting points for our US readers
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Starting points for our Global readers
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