Denmark is challenging New Zealand for the top spot of the Impact League leaderboard after topping the podium for the planet at the Range Rover France Sail Grand Prix in Saint-Tropez.
The team, led by driver Nicolai Sehested, was awarded 139 points, ahead of Switzerland with 137 and the U.S., which scooped the most improved award for moving up 17 points to 128.
The results mean that New Zealand retains its place at top of the leaderboard with 777 points, followed closely by Denmark with 772 and Great Britain in third with 762.
Sehested said the team was ‘delighted’ to take ‘another Impact League win’ after also topping the podium in Chicago.
“In Saint-Tropez, we welcomed our Race For The Future partner, One Ocean Foundation, who, alongside ROCKWOOL, helped us to deliver a broad range of purpose-driven opportunities and education for the next generation. This complements the work we have done at home in Denmark with the ROCKTheBoat Academy and sees us put ocean science firmly at the heart of everything we do in this project."
The total prize money of $25K will be divided between the three top teams and donated to their partners. Denmark picks up $13K for its partner One Ocean Foundation, Switzerland picks up $7K for VI Foundation and the U.S. wins $5k for RISE for being the most improved team.
As the winning team, Denmark is also awarded a Golden Crane Ticket - an on-water advantage that allows the winner of each event to adjust their crane slot assignment to suit their team’s schedule and ultimately allow for more time on the water to train.
Key highlights saw Denmark kick off a series of ocean science experiments with One Ocean Foundation, with athletes Katja Salskov-Iversen and Hans-Christian Rosendahl helping to conduct experiments on an electric chase boat.
The experiments sample the ocean for plankton and conduct initial analysis - helping to create an ocean health map of SailGP venues.
The Impact League is measured across 10 criteria, including travel and accommodation, food, and diversity, equality and inclusion, which are aligned to SailGP’s targets to reduce its carbon footprint by 55%.
The Impact League has been simplified in Season 3 to ensure it drives maximum impact, while reducing the time taken for teams to collect and report on all criteria at every event. It is more weighted towards quantitative data, encourages collaboration and learning between teams, while aligning to SailGP's global sustainability goals and actions.
