{"id":665661,"date":"2026-05-12T09:01:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-12T09:01:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/665661\/"},"modified":"2026-05-12T09:01:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T09:01:13","slug":"australia-to-challenge-for-trophy-for-first-time-since-2000","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/665661\/","title":{"rendered":"Australia to challenge for trophy for first time since 2000"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Australia will have a challenger for the world\u2019s oldest international sporting trophy for the first time since the turn of the century, with retail rich-lister John Winning Jr backing a bid for the America\u2019s Cup next year.<\/p>\n

Australia has a treasured association with the 175-year-old competition, having won in 1983 with the John Bertrand-skippered Australia II.<\/p>\n

\"AlanAlan Bond and crew celebrate winning the 1983 Americas Cup on Australia II.AP<\/p>\n

That victory in Rhode Island retains a place as one of the most memorable sporting occasions in Australian history, with then prime minister Bob Hawke famously saying on the morning afterwards that \u201cany boss who sacks anyone for not turning up today is a bum\u201d.<\/p>\n

While Australian sailors have featured on America\u2019s Cup crews since, the country has not mounted a challenge since 2000.<\/p>\n

That is about to change, with Appliances Online chief executive Winning Jr behind an entry from Sydney\u2019s Royal Prince Edward Yacht Club at Point Piper, according to sources with knowledge of the plans and pending announcement.<\/p>\n

There is speculation that Olympic gold medallist Tom Slingsby, the strategist for the United States\u2019 Oracle Racing team that won the America\u2019s Cup in 2013, could skipper the Australian contender.<\/p>\n

\"\u201cAny\u201cAny boss who sacks someone for not turning up to work today is a bum!\u201c: Bob Hawke famously called an unofficial public holiday after the race of the century.Bob Jen<\/p>\n

The team faces a race against time to prepare for the challenger series in Naples, Italy next year, the winner of which will come up against trophy holder Team New Zealand at the same venue in July 2027 to determine the 38th America\u2019s Cup winner.<\/p>\n

Winning Jr, an elite sailor himself, was patron of the Australian team which competed in the inaugural women\u2019s America\u2019s Cup in Barcelona in 2024.<\/p>\n

But an Australian vessel in the time-honoured original event is a major development.<\/p>\n

The prohibitive costs of mounting an America\u2019s Cup campaign have turned many off sponsoring another challenge until now.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Royal Prince Edward Yacht Club at Point Piper.Janie Barrett<\/p>\n

It is expected to cost tens of millions of dollars to launch it even at this late stage, with only 12 months until racing takes place.<\/p>\n

Late businessman Alan Bond bankrolled Australia II, which was known for its winged keel design and which Bertrand skippered to come from behind to defeat Dennis Conner\u2019s Liberty 4-3 in the seven-race America\u2019s Cup series of 1983.<\/p>\n

It was the first time the United States had surrendered the America\u2019s Cup in the event\u2019s then 132-year history.<\/p>\n

Iain Murray\u2019s Kookaburra III was unsuccessful in Australia\u2019s defence of the trophy four years later off the coast of Fremantle, with Conner reclaiming it on the US boat Stars and Stripes.<\/p>\n

\"JohnJohn Winning Jr aboard Andoo Comanche after taking line honours in the 2022 Sydney to Hobart yacht race.Salty Dingo<\/p>\n

The Australian entry in 1995, OneAustralia, which was also skippered by Bertrand, notoriously split in two and sunk 90 seconds into a race against the New Zealand team during that year\u2019s challenger series off the coast of San Diego.<\/p>\n

The most recent challenger was Young Australia in 2000. Its skipper was 20-year-old Jimmy Spithill, who went onto win two America\u2019s Cup with US teams, but it finished well down the standings.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Historic<\/a><\/p>\n

Teams from Italy, the US, Britain, France and Switzerland have already confirmed their participation in next year\u2019s challenger series.<\/p>\n

Entries to the America\u2019s Cup must be made by individual yacht clubs and Winning Jr has a long family association with the Royal Prince Edward Yacht Club.<\/p>\n

Team New Zealand have held the America\u2019s Cup since 2017, successfully defending it in Auckland in 2021 and Barcelona in 2024.<\/p>\n

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\"ChrisChris Barrett<\/a> is a senior sports reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald. He is a former South-East Asia correspondent for the Herald and The Age.Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":665662,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-665661","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/665661","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=665661"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/665661\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/665662"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=665661"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=665661"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=665661"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}