America's Cup: British battle escalates - Ineos Britannia no longer wants to compete
Tatjana Pokorny
· 10.04.2025
In the 37th America's Cup, the British team Ineos Britannia was the Challenger of Record and the strongest challenger to the New Zealand defenders in the duel for sailing's most important trophy. The racing team, financed by Sir Jim Ratcliffe's company and led by Sir Ben Ainslie, had improved over the course of the competition, but lost 7-2 to Emirates Team New Zealand in the match for the silver jug last autumn in the Spanish hunting ground of Barcelona.
The British Cup divorce
The team wanted to tackle Ratcliffe and Ainslie's third America's Cup campaign together on this basis. However, there had already been serious disagreements behind the scenes during the Cup regatta in Barcelona. Despite some efforts, these could no longer be patched up on the way to a follow-up campaign. Ineos Britannia announced a campaign without Ainslie. Ainslie responded publicly with astonishment, describing his Athena Racing campaign as the rightful Challenger of Record.
Now Sir Jim Ratcliffe's Team Ineos Britannia has announced its withdrawal from the 38th America's Cup. The decision, according to a recent statement, "was made after lengthy negotiations with Athena Racing Ltd. following the conclusion of the 37th America's Cup in Barcelona last year".
The man behind Athena Racing Ltd is four-time Olympic champion Sir Ben Ainslie, who was CEO and skipper for Ineos Britannia in the 37th America's Cup. The 48-year-old is now CEO of the Athena Sports Group and wants to fight for the America's Cup again, which he won once with Oracle Team USA in 2013, but never for his home country of Great Britain.
No agreement possible on America's Cup course
The latest statement from Ineos Britannia continues: "The agreement reached with Athena Racing would have allowed both parties (ed.: Ineos Britannia and Athena Racing Ltd.) to participate in the next Cup, but was dependent on a quick resolution. Ineos Britannia had agreed to the key terms very quickly, but Athena failed to finalise the agreement in time." In other words, no agreement was reached.
With the cancellation of its own ambitious Cup plans announced in January, Ineos Britannia assigned responsibility for this to Athena Racing. Ineos Britannia's statement said: "Ineos Britannia believes that this six-month delay has undermined its ability to prepare for the next Cup." It has therefore "reluctantly withdrawn its intention to compete".
After our challenges in the last two America's Cups, this was a very difficult decision." Sir Jim Ratcliffe
Sir Jim Ratcliffe, chemical engineer, billionaire and chairman of the chemical company Ineos, commented on the decision with a personal statement and looking back on the success in the 37th America's Cup: "We were the most successful British challenger in modern times with an exceptionally fast boat and felt that with the very effective support of the Mercedes F1 engineers we had a real chance in the next Cup. Unfortunately, we missed that opportunity."
Ainslie's Athena Racing team challenged
How the challenge of the British Royal Yacht Squadron as "Challenger of Record", which was already accepted in Barcelona on 19 October 2024, will now continue remained open at first. At the time, Bertie Bicket, the chairman of the challenging English club with a long tradition, said: "We are delighted to have been accepted by the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron as the challenger of the AC38, following our successful collaboration on the 37th America's Cup."
Bertie Bicket also said: "We are determined to work with the Defender to agree a protocol aimed at attracting more participating countries to the Challenger and to further promote and grow both the women's and youth America's Cup events." It is now the case that the course must first be set anew in their own country before they can continue with big plans as Challenger of Record on the Cup stage.
Ineos Britannia was apparently forced to stop the solo venture announced in January of this year without Sir Ben Ainslie. Athena Racing Ltd. has yet to respond. Linked to this latest escalation is the question of whether Sir Ben Ainslie and Athena Racing Ltd. will be able to find sufficient funds to continue their course in the America's Cup without their former sponsor and financial backer Sir Jim Ratcliffe. This should be of particular interest to the New Zealand defenders, who could use a strong Challenger of Record on what is already a demanding course into the Cup future.
