Roos top Germany Opener and Speed Records Broken
by BONDS Flying Roos 22 Aug 17:16 BST
22-23 August 2026
BONDS Flying Roos SailGP Team leads Artemis SailGP Team, Germany SailGP Team presented by Deutsche Bank, Emirates Great Britain SailGP Team and NORTHSTAR SailGP Team on Race Day 1 of the ROCKWOOL Germany Sail Grand Prix © Ricardo Pinto for SailGP
The BONDS Flying Roos mastered wild conditions on SailGP's "fastest racecourse in the world" to finish the opening day of the Germany Sail Grand Prix at the top of Group B.
Tom Slingsby's crew delivered two commanding race wins before finishing sixth in the final contest of the day. Their 1-1-6 scorecard secured first place in Group B on 10 points and marked Slingsby's 100th SailGP race win. However, the standings remain tight, with just three points separating the Australians from second-placed Artemis on nine points and third-placed NorthStar Canada on eight points.
The Black Foils lead Group A on 13 points, just one point ahead of DS Automobiles Team France in second place on 11 points.
The Australians set a new speed record for their team, reaching 101 km/h on the approach to Mark 1 as they battled the United States, Canada, Great Britain, Sweden and home team Germany across three split-fleet races.
The speed continued to build throughout the afternoon, with DS Automobiles Team France setting a new F50 record of 107.63 km/h in the day's final race. The achievement surpassed ROCKWOOL Racing's previous record of 103.93 km/h, set in Sassnitz in 2025.
Tom Slingsby, Driver of the BONDS Flying Roos, said: "We felt pretty comfortable in those conditions with the 18-metre wing and the high-speed foils. It felt easy in those first two races, where we had a good start, got out in front and were just sailing by ourselves. It was great.
"But that last race was a battle. You've got everyone attacking you, and everyone slows each other up when you get caught in the pack, which is what happened to us. We ended up finishing last.
"We showed that if we get off the line well, we are pretty hard to stop, so we need to focus on that tomorrow."
The BONDS Flying Roos' fight for a place in the Germany Sail Grand Prix Final continues tomorrow, with each group completing two further fleet races before the top two teams from each group compete in the winner-takes-all Final. Racing begins at 10:00 PM AEST / 8:00 PM AWST on Sunday, 23 August.