Spain Sail Grand Prix 2026 Recap: How light winds proved Taylor-made for Canfield once again
The U.S SailGP Team won their second Grand Prix of the season and did so for a second time at big pre-event odds, moving up to third in the Championship in the process. Here’s how it all unfolded here in Valencia at the weekend.
How the U.S. SailGP Team beat the odds
The U.S. SailGP Team defied pre-event odds of 18.18 to go and win the Spain Sail Grand Prix in a thrilling finish on Sunday afternoon in Valencia, overtaking the Bonds Flying Roos almost on the line finishing to secure their second Grand Prix win of the season.
For context, only one other team was a bigger price than them going into the event: the Mubadala Brazil SailGP Team at odds of 22.22. The Americans were one of three teams at 18.18, with the Red Bull Italy SailGP Team and the Explora Journeys Swiss SailGP Team the others, and the outsiders of the lot among the teams in Group B.
Though, as pointed out in one of our pre-event previews, value bets tend to be found more in side markets than the event winner one, in hindsight, that was an excellent price on Taylor Canfield’s team, who had not only already won at the KPMG Sydney Sail Grand Prix but did so in similar conditions to the ones here, with very light winds.
Furthermore, as mentioned in Saturday’s recap, only the Bonds Flying Roos could match the Americans’ record of making three finals in Spanish events over the years, though admittedly, none of those had been in Valencia.
All that said, maybe the bookies can’t be blamed for offering such a big price on the U.S. SailGP Team after all. It was the first time in seven events – since their own win back in Sydney – that a team other than the Bonds Flying Roos or Los Gallos SailGP Team had won a SailGP event.
How Canfield negotiated his way into the Final
There have been occasions this season of teams starting well on Saturday, looking nailed-on for a place in the Final on Saturday night and then sealing the deal on Sunday afternoon, but this wasn’t one of them.
They were third in Group B going into Sunday’s racing and trading at odds of 2.69 just to make the Final and at odds of 10.53 to win it, so they certainly weren’t fancied at the end of Saturday’s action.
And by edging out Los Gallos in joining ROCKWOOL Racing SailGP Team in the final, it meant they helped cause another betting upset: the Spanish were just 1.03 to make the Final when top of Group B on Saturday night, but missed out on it.
The fact that there was just one Group race on Sunday played into the hands of the Americans, who won it, while Los Gallos’ last-place finish saw them drop out of the Top 2 and with no chance to fight back.
Though the Bonds Flying Roos justified their own short price of just 1.08 ahead of Sunday to make the Final, the other two teams joining them in it had been big prices themselves, with the Red Bull Italy SailGP Team and ROCKWOOL on offer at 6.28 and 2.77 respectively to make the four-boat Final before the event got under way.
It was the Italians’ first podium finish since joining SailGP at the start of last season.
Americans move up to third in the Championship standings
Those 10 points for the Americans mean they’re now in third place in the Championship standings on 56, with Los Gallos on 68 and the Bonds Flying Roos still at the top on 85 after another strong performance here in Valencia that ended up in a runner-up spot and the nine event points that came with it.
That said, given what happened in the Final with the Aussies looking like they were going on to win for much of the race before that very late push at the end from Canfield and his crew, Tom Slingsby will look back at this Grand Prix as a missed opportunity rather than yet another podium finish and a precious nine points.
They’re not the only ones who will be disappointed by the result in Valencia. Given where they were going into Sunday, Los Gallos will have felt a Top 4 finish was the bare minimum, while Artemis SailGP Team won’t be too thrilled about taking just two points from the event, in the process dropping back into fourth, albeit just one behind the Americans.
That means the Bonds Flying Roos now have 2.63 to go to win the Championship this season, with Los Gallos 2.76, the U.S. SailGP Team 5.63 and Artemis 6.61.
Now or never for Emirates GBR
With just three events to go and trailing Artemis by four points, time is running out for the Emirates Great Britain SailGP Team in fifth place.
After starting the defence of their title in the best possible way with victory at the Oracle Perth Sail Grand Prix, followed by runner-up spots in the next two in Auckland and Sydney, they then managed just one more podium finish after that when suffering their own finishing-line heartbreak in New York, meaning that win in Perth remains both their first and last win of the season.
Worse still, they finished very low in the standings at plenty of events, while other teams proved far more consistent.
They’re now 12.82 to defend their title, and they’re too good a team to dismiss entirely, but they’ll need to bounce back at the Switzerland Sail Grand Prix in two weeks’ time if they’re to remain in contention.
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