Finn Gold Cup

Alessandro Marega has won the Porsche Centre Brisbane 2026 Finn Gold Cup after an incredible week of world class sailing at the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron, in Brisbane, Australia. In doing so he becomes the first Italian ever to win the Finn World Championship. Long time leader Anders Pedersen, from Norway, had to settle for the silver while an almost perfect performance over the last two days from Brendan Casey, moved him up the third and the first Australian. More than 70 Finn sailors from 14 nations have been competing for the 70th Finn Gold Cup.

Heading into the final day it could not have been closer at the top with Pedersen and Marega separated by a single point. 16 points further back Nossiter, Brendan Casey and Rafael Trujillo were separated by 8 points, so the final day was going to be a crucial decider.

Thursday brought the lightest winds of the week, under 10 knots all day, but there with all to play for and with 30 degrees temperature, the competition was hot. In Race 9, New Zealand’s Karl Purdie made the best of the first upwind to round just ahead of Casey and Rodion Mazin, from the USA. Casey took the lead downwind and extended for a comfortable win from Purdie and Valerian Lebrun, from France.

Both Marega and Pedersen were deep at the top mark, but Marega was going faster and worked through to top 20 at second top mark and then took more bown last run to cross in eighth place. With Pedersen still well back it was enough for Marega to win the Finn Gold Cup with a race to spare.

The final race settled the other medals with Lebrun leading round the whole race to win the race from Laurent Hay and move up to fourth overall. Britain’s Nick Craig had his best race to cross third, while Casey had another good race to cross in fourth, which lifted him up to third to take the bronze medal, a spot occupied that had been by Anthony Nossiter all week, who dropped to fifth overall.

Casey, “I’m happy to say I finished third. I’m pretty happy about that. I must say Anders and the Italian sailor, they sailed a class series and deserved to get their first and second position.

“Royal Queensland is a premier sailing location in Australia. The weather has been at both ends. We’ve had the extreme of the south easter and then the lighter nor’easters over the last couple of days, but I really enjoyed sailing on Moreton Bay, and I would say that there’s going to be more regattas to come, not only in the Finn.”

Pedersen, “Overall, I’m happy with my sailing, except for today. The Italian did a very good job taking me out in race one, and yeah, so kudos to him. He deserved the gold and he’s been super consistent. I’ve been struggling in the lighter breeze. When the wind was up, I had control, but not the fully right setup and probably a lack of training for the lighter stuff

On Brisbane, “The sailing in Brisbane was beautiful. I really like Brisbane. The yacht club is very nice. Conditions have been awesome. The people here are super friendly and helpful. I couldn’t ask for more. I’m pretty broken in my body right now, so I need to do more fitness to get back. So, I’m probably gonna do less office work and be a bit more in the gym and hopefully you see me more in the future.”

Marega, “I’m very happy about the result and the week. I sailed very good, also in the situations when I was not so good with the speed and other things, and I stayed calm all the week.

“We had three days with rain and three days of sun and good breeze. For me it is a perfect place, and we have tough race all the week with strong wind from the south and then less wind from the north.

“We had a good level. Many people have done the Olympics and America’s Cup. For me it’s a point that makes me happy. 

For the U29 Silver Cup, Australia’s Hayden Barney and Sam Ede were locked together most of the week. However, Barney had the better final day to end up 34 overall and first U29.

In the evening the fleet celebrated the winners after a truly epic Finn Gold Cup and also celebrated the induction of Rafa Trujillo into the Finn Class Hall of Fame. The first person to congratulate him was Hall of Famer Gus Miller, 91 years old, who had made a guest appearance on the water in the afternoon during the final race. He had returned to Brisbane 50 years after taking part in the legendary 1976 Finn Gold Cup. More class legends were made this week, and no one will forget this event in a hurry, even after the bodies have recovered.

As IFA President Ron McMillan said, “What a week. A new country gets to write its name on the Finn Gold Cup. But it couldn’t happen without the amazing RQ machine. It was hard at times, but so worth it and as tough as I can recall at any Finn Gold Cup. It was amazing.”

The outside course on Moreton Bay has proved to be a fitting challenge for the ultimate challenge, the pinnacle of Finn sailing that is the Finn Gold Cup. The week has also provided a range of conditions to test all the sailors, and the battle at the top was so tight that no mistake went unpunished.

For some sailors the Australian adventure is over. For many others it continues, with the Porsche Centre Brisbane 2026 Finn World Masters beginning Friday with racing next week from Monday to Friday.

So, don’t go away…we’ll be back soon…

Day 5 gallery: https://www.flickr.com/photos/finnclassphotos/albums/72177720332102205

Final results after 10 races
1 ITA 1103 Alessandro Marega 29
2 NOR 1 Anders Østre Pedersen 36
3 AUS 11 Brendan Casey 42
4 FRA 111 Valerian Lebrun 48
5 AUS 221 Anthony Nossiter 50
6 ESP 100 Rafael Trujillo 53
7 NZL 111 Karl Purdie 86
8 AUS 2 Rob McMillan 97
9 USA 16 Rodion Mazin 109
10 AUS 37 James Bevis 110

Full results: https://results.rqys.com.au/RQRegatta/FinnGoldCup26/