SailGP is stacked with talent right now. Olympic medallists, World Champions, sailors who have spent decades at the sharp end of the sport. But no generation holds the top forever, and the next wave is already forming.
Jimmy Spithill and Sir Ben Ainslie proved that even the biggest names eventually step aside. It wasn't so long ago that Diego Botin and Florian Trittel were the young ones nipping at heels. Today they are SailGP Champions and Olympic gold medallists. Someone has to be next.
Four athletes worth watching closely.
Enzo Ballanger is 25, and his foiling résumé already reads like someone a decade older. The Frenchman stepped into the Wing Trimmer role for DS Automobiles Team France after Leigh McMillan and Glenn Ashby were sidelined through injury, thrown straight into competition in New York with limited preparation and showing no signs of being rattled.
The credentials back it up. Ballanger is the reigning International Moth World Champion, defeating SailGP names Dylan Fletcher, Diego Botin and Tom Slingsby to claim the title. He also led the French Youth America's Cup team in 2024. The Moth has long been the foiling sailor's proving ground, demanding precise technical judgement at speed, and Ballanger is thriving there.
Tash Bryant has been calling strategy for the BONDS Flying Roos since 2023, working alongside some of the most decorated sailors on the circuit. Her background runs through the 49erFX class, the Inspire WASZP programme in 2019, iQFOiL windsurfing, and wing foiling. She has chased the foiling disciplines with real intention.
Learning alongside Tom Slingsby is about as good an apprenticeship as exists in sailing. Bryant has made no secret of wanting to take the wheel one day, and the hours she is accumulating as a strategist are shaping exactly the kind of understanding an F50 driver needs.
Harry Melges IV joined the United States SailGP Team as a reserve athlete for the final event of the 2025 season, then moved onto the full-time roster for 2026. At 24 years old, he was named the 2021 US Rolex Yachtsman of the Year, won the 2025 TP52 World Championship and the overall 52 Super Series title at the helm, and skippered the American Magic Youth America's Cup team to second place in 2024 while working closely with Tom Slingsby and Paul Goodison throughout the senior campaign.
What sets Melges apart is his ability to adapt quickly across keelboat and foiling platforms and make sharp decisions under pressure. He is now logging the hours toward his F50 licence.
Victoria Schultheis arrived in the Germany SailGP Team by Deutsche Bank's expanded athlete pool for 2026 off the back of a strong run of results. She had been campaigning in the 49erFX before turning hard toward foiling, moving through the WASZP, Switch, and Moth classes in rapid succession. She claimed the Women's Moth World Championship in 2025 just months after entering the class, then added the Switch World Championship in the same season. The Female Foiling Sailor of the Year award followed.
The 25-year-old is studying computer science and business alongside her sailing career and is developing a sailing analysis application. In a competition increasingly driven by data, that is a rare combination: raw speed through the water and an understanding of what the numbers mean.
Her pathway to the F50 is one worth following.
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