Newest SailGP recruit helped deny Aussies $3m

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By AAP

January 12, 2026 — 1.39pm

He was on the champion SailGP team that denied Australia a $3 million jackpot, but Iain Jensen insists there are no hard feelings joining the Aussie team only weeks later.

Iain Jensen has made the move from representing Great Britain to join the Australian team in this year’s SailGP series.Credit: SailGP

Jensen will represent Australia for the first time since his gold medal-winning Olympic career as the high-speed sailing league begins its sixth season in Perth this weekend.

“It’s always been on the bucket list to sail one of these professional classes for Australia,” Jensen said.

The 37-year-old Lake Macquarie native signed off on a move from Great Britain ahead of that team’s triumph in November’s grand final race in Abu Dhabi.

The subsequent grand-final victory over Australia and New Zealand netted the British boat a $US2 million ($A2.99 million) payday and left the Flying Roos lamenting a second consecutive loss in the winner-take-all decider.

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Jensen roomed with Australian SailGP skipper Tom Slingsby at the 2012 Olympics, where both men won gold, and is godfather to his son.

There won’t be any hatchet to bury with Slingsby and the Australian team as Jensen hits the water in their F50 catamaran for the inaugural Perth regatta.

“Whatever happens on the water, you can put it aside,” Jensen said.

“Everyone wants to beat each other on the water, but sailing’s such a small society, everyone’s really close-knit, so it’s not like you hold grudges when you come off the water.

“I don’t think anyone would hold anything against me, doing well in a final where everyone’s trying to win.”