A fortnight after advising Olympic gold medallist Matt Wearn, champion Australian Tom Slingsby resumes his quest to win the world’s most famous sailing race in Barcelona tonight. But this time he will be representing the Stars and Stripes of the United States. The Sydneysider will be at the helm of American Magic’s in its bid to reclaim for the New York Yacht Club the Americas Cup it once had a stranglehold on until a famous Aussie upset in 1983 when the John Bertrand-skipper Australia II triumphed in Newport.
Slingsby, who won a gold medal for Australia in the London Olympics and skippers the Australian team in the SailGP series, has a US passport courtesy of his mother. “I was born and raised in Australia,” he said. “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’s co-helmsman Paul Goodison, an English sailor and fellow Olympic gold medallist, describes his partner in the assault on the world’s oldest sporting contest as an “arch rival” who he has shared an “abrasive” relationship with for well over a decade. “We’ve competed against each other in the Olympic classes for the best part of 10 years (and) we were archrivals for a long time,” Goodison told . “And we’ve been through cycles of being best mates, and then very abrasive, and then mates, and then abrasive.
And it all comes from when you’re competing against somebody. “You can’t really like them. You’ve got to crush them.
You’ve got to beat them. And that was a big part of the Olympic cycle. But also with that, you gain a huge amount of respect.
If you were to choose another guy to be beside you racing one of these, he’d be top of your list.” Slingsby, 39, is at the top of the list with good reason. A highly-decorated athlete who was acclaimed as the world’s top sailor last year, he is hugely respected in yachting and boating circles in Australia and around the world.
Inspired as a teenager by the brilliance of those competing in the 2000 Olympic Regatta on Sydney Harbour, Slingsby was drawn to the sport by its competitiveness and beauty. Just 12 years later he won an Olympic gold medal in the laser (dinghy) class at the London Games to spark what has become an Australian dominance of the sport. Tom Burton clinched gold in the class in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 while Wearn became the first Australian to defend his gold medal in the division with his feats in France earlier this month.
After effectively winning the Paris Olympic gold medal twice - his first race against Cypriot Pavlos Kontides was abandoned when Wearn was within sight of winning due to a lack of wind - the Western Australian said Slingsby had boosted his confidence with a phone call. “He reached out, which was pretty cool. He told me to enjoy it, have fun and have a crack,” Wearn said.
While Wearn bobbed about in the Gulf of Lyon for a period in his dinghy during the Olympics, there will be no lull in terms of pace when Slingsby and Goodison share duties piloting off the Barcelona coastline. The AC75 yachts featuring in the 37th Americas Cup have been described as akin to being on an F1 car on the water and regularly reach speeds beyond 50 knots (92kmh) in races. American Magic is among the six entrants which will compete in Port Vell in a series of races to determine who will challenge defending champion Team New Zealand for the prestigious Cup in a competition running from August 22 through to mid-October.
Slingsby is keeping the Australian spirit alive in the Americas Cup and has enjoyed previous success in the race as a member of the Oracle Team which won in 2013. It was his multi-class expertise that prompted the NYYC to poach him in 2022 to partner Goodison at the helm in the lead-up to the American Magic’s assault on the 2024 edition. “As a previous winner of the America’s Cup, Tom knows what it takes to climb that mountain,” team skipper Terry Hutchison, who holds an on-shore role, said.
The six boats will compete in the third and final preliminary regatta in Barcelona from Thursday night (AEST). The event does not count towards progression or elimination, but results can be used later for tiebreakers, while the regatta also gives the teams an opportunity to get a glimpse at the competition before the Louis Vuitton Cup — which begins next week..
