This is the event-ending moment Australia’s wing collapsed as the team approached the start line of the last fleet race.
The team was coming in fast to the line and trying to find a gap through when suddenly the entire F50 wing disintegrated and fell around the crew.
Luckily, all athletes were swiftly accounted for and no injuries were reported, though it remains unclear what caused the incident. An investigation into the cause will soon be underway.
It was a disastrous end to an impressive event for the Australians, who racked up 2-3-3-4-5-2 fleet racing results before the 11th place finish in the last fleet race. Despite picking up no points for this race, the Aussies still qualified for the Final, but due to the damage to their F50, were unable to race. Quentin Delapierre’s France took Australia’s place instead and finished third overall.
Speaking about the incident shortly after racing, driver Tom Slingsby described it as a ‘bit of a blur’.
“We were coming into the start, we were looking for a gap and we realized there wasn’t going to be one, so we conceded and turned up,” he said. “I don’t really know what happened but my guess is that the wing failed right at that moment that we turned up sharply.”
His thoughts now turn to understanding why the wing collapsed, he said. “We’ve just got to go and look at all the camera angles. It was obviously close with the boats, but we need to determine if it was a wing failure or something else at play - did we make an error?”