Burling skippers Kiwis to New York regatta win and clinches spot in SailGP's $2M Grand Final

Peter Burling and the New Zealand Black Foils sailed a flawless podium race on the Hudson River on Sunday to win the Mubadala New York Sail Grand Prix and clinch a spot in SailGP's $2 million, winner-take-all Grand Final in San Francisco next month.

Burling and his mates took the inside position at the start and kept their 50-foot foiling catamaran ahead of Phil Robertson of Canada and Giles Scott of Britain to win for the fifth time in 12 regattas. They still need to get through the San Francisco regatta in one piece on July 13 and 14 but will have a spot on the starting line of the three-boat Grand Final for the second straight year.

Three-time defending SailGP champion Tom Slingsby and Team Australia missed the podium race for the second straight regatta but leap-frogged Spain into second place in the season standings. The Aussies went 9-1 in Sunday's two fleet races and finished fourth overall.

The Kiwis have exerted dominance despite a stunning setback in the season's third regatta, when their wingsail suddenly shattered and fell into the Mediterranean minutes after they had completed the first day of racing in Saint-Tropez. They were forced to the docks for the rest of that regatta and the next regatta.

It's not surprising the Kiwis have bounced back, considering their deep experience. Burling and wing trimmer Blair Tuke won three Olympic medals together, including one gold, and are the core of two-time defending America's Cup champion Emirates Team New Zealand.

“I knew we had a long road ahead of us to be top of the leaderboard going into the Grand Final, missing an event, not only the points side of things but just the lack of training time, which this group has had less training time than anyone else in the whole league this season," Burling said.

“It's been a tough season but to just charge through that and get these wins on the board is something we’re super proud of," he said before the crew members sprayed each other with Champagne.

The Kiwis lead the trans-Tasman Sea rival Aussies 93-78 on the season leaderboard, while Spain's Diego Botin is third with 76 points. France is five points out of podium position, Canada and ROCKWOOL Denmark are another four points back, and the British are 10 points back.

Nothing is given in SailGP, where penalty points, a collision or a capsize can drastically affect a team's fate.

Slingsby, an Olympic gold medalist and former America's Cup champion, beat Burlng and Britain's Sir Ben Ainslie in the Season 3 Grand Final in tech baron Larry Ellison's global league. The prize money has doubled to $2 million this season for the winning crew.

Robertson had a perfectly timed start Sunday but the Canadians briefly buried one bow into the water. Burling had the inside position and forced Canada and Britain high and wide approaching the first mark to gain control.

“Awesome to get another win on the board. Really tricky conditions, really snakes and ladders, but to get three solid starts today, put together three solid races and end up winning it," Burling said. "I'm pretty proud of the team.”

Bernie Wilson has covered sailing for the AP since 1991.

AP sports: https://apnews.com/hub/sports

In this photo provided by SailGP, the fleet led by Emirates Great Britain SailGP Team ahead of Canada SailGP Team and USA SailGP Team pass the New York City skyline on Race Day 2 of the Mubadala New York Sail Grand Prix in New York, Sunday, June 23, 2024. (Bob Martin/SailGP via AP)

In this photo provided by SailGP, New Zealand SailGP Team, helmed by Peter Burling, pass the Statue of Liberty on Race Day 2 of the Mubadala New York Sail Grand Prix in New York, Sunday, June 23, 2024. (Bob Martin/SailGP via AP)

In this photo provided by SailGP, Peter Burling, Co-CEO and driver of New Zealand SailGP Team, lifts the trophy as the team celebrate aboard their F50 catamaran after winning the Mubadala New York Sail Grand Prix in New York, Sunday, June 23, 2024. (Ricardo Pinto/SailGP via AP)

In this photo provided by SailGP, Peter Burling, Co-CEO and driver of New Zealand SailGP Team, lifts the trophy as the team celebrates aboard their F50 catamaran after winning the Mubadala New York Sail Grand Prix in New York, Sunday, June 23, 2024. (Bob Martin/SailGP via AP)

Wall Street pointed toward a modestly higher open Friday ahead of a key report on inflation that could influence the Federal Reserve's next decision on interest rates.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.1% and futures for the S&P 500 rose nearly 0.4%.

Nike shares tumbled 15% after the shoe and athletic wear company missed Wall Street's revenue targets and cut its full-year sales guidance. Company executives said they expect sales to decline by single digits in the current fiscal year, citing a “challenging” environment.

Nike's dour outlook dragged other athletic apparel companies down with it. Foot Locker fell 5.7%, Skechers lost 3.7% and Under Armour was down 2.8% in off-hours trading.

The U.S. stock market has been listless this week in the lead up to Friday’s release of the next influential inflation report from the government. The personal consumption expenditures index, or PCE, is the Fed’s preferred measure of inflation.

Economists expect the report to show a modest easing of inflation to 2.6% in May, following a 2.7% reading in April. That’s down from the PCE’s peak of 7.1% in the middle of 2022. Other measures of inflation, including the consumer price index, have also eased significantly over the last two years.

The latest updates on inflation could influence the central bank’s decision on when to begin cutting interest rates, which remain at their highest level in more than 20 years and which are having an impact worldwide. Wall Street is betting that the central bank will start cutting interest rates at its September meeting.

An update from the government said the American economy expanded at a 1.4% annual pace from January through March. The figure is a slight revision from a prior estimate of 1.3%. It marks the slowest quarterly growth since spring 2022.

A slowdown in consumer spending could help further ease inflation, but too much of a slowdown could result in a more painful hit to the economy. The Federal Reserve is trying to time its efforts tame inflation back to its 2% target without slowing the economy so much that it slips into a recession.

France's CAC 40 slipped 0.4% at midday trading in Europe, while Germany's DAX added 0.6%. Britain's FTSE 100 rose 0.5%.

In Asia, Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 rose 0.6% to finish at 39,583.08. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.1% to 7,767.50. South Korea's Kospi edged 0.5% higher to 2,797.82. Hong Kong's Hang Seng was little changed, inching up less than 0.1% to 17,718.61, while the Shanghai Composite surged 0.7% to 2,967.40.

In Japan, the government reported industrial production was stronger than forecast in May at 2.8% and the unemployment rate was unchanged from the previous month at 2.6%.

In energy trading, benchmark U.S. crude rose 77 cents to $82.51 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, added 65 cents to $85.91 a barrel.

In currency trading, the U.S. dollar fell to 160.63 Japanese yen from 160.77 yen. The euro cost $1.0701, down from $1.0704.

On Thursday, the S&P 500 edged up 0.1% and the Nasdaq composite added 0.3%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.1%.

File - People pass the New York Stock Exchange on May 28, 2024, in New York. Global shares have advanced on Friday, June 28, 2024, as traders look ahead to a key report on inflation that could influence the Federal Reserve's next move on interest rates. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan, File)

Currency traders watch monitors near the screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, June 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

A currency trader watches monitors near the screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), left, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, June 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

A currency trader passes by the screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), left, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, June 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)