SSL Team SUI – By Sailors for Sailors

THE FOOTBALL WORLD CUP... IN SAILING

15 NOV - 13 DEC 2026 | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Events

Upcoming

1/8 FINALS

G1 - Race 1

11:00

02 December 2026

BRAZIL

Participants

NZL

SUI

R2B1

R2A2

Results

Upcoming

1/8 FINALS

G1 - Race 2

12:30

03 December 2026

BRAZIL

Participants

NZL

SUI

R2B1

R2A2

Results

Upcoming

1/8 FINALS

G1 - Race 3

14:00

04 December 2026

BRAZIL

Participants

NZL

SUI

R2B1

R2A2

Results

Upcoming

1/8 FINALS

G1 - Race 4

15:30

05 December 2026

BRAZIL

Participants

NZL

SUI

R2B1

R2A2

Results

See All Races

News

Rio to host the Sailing World Cup

Rio will host the Sailing World Cup with teams from 40 countries on the 2016 Olympic racecourses. Ten years after the Olympics, the SSL Gold Cup will bring together more…

DateToday at 15:20

40 DAYS TO GO : THE ROAD TO RIO IS HEATING UP

Only 40 days to go until the SSL Gold Cup Final Series in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil The countdown is on, and preparations are moving into high gear. Our shore…

Date10.10.2026

Guanabara Bay: The Stage for the SSL Gold Cup 2026

From Olympic waters to the world stage of nation-against-nation sailing, Guanabara Bay will provide the backdrop for the 2026 SSL Gold Cup. From 18 November to 13 December, 40 nations…

Date02.10.2026

The Helvetic Lakers

Nowhere as strong as on their home waters

When a nation without sea surprises all

The home team means business in the SSL Gold Cup, will use all of its local knowledge to be faster than the challengers from abroad, and holds the trophy right in the first edition.

Located in the middle of Europe, Switzerland has a strong tradition in sailing on its various lakes and on the seas of the world. After the Whitbread Round the World Race in the eighties and early nineties, with a win in elapsed time for UBS Switzerland, Swiss sailors are also present in Ocean races like the Vendée Globe, Around Alone, with Bernard Stamm winning in 2002, as well as the Route du Rhum and Transat Jaques Vabre.

The perception of Switzerland as a sailing nation radically changed after Alinghi’s win in the America’s Cup, who went on to successfully defend the Cup in Valencia. Switzerland became the first European country to win the America’s Cup, increasing the popularity of sailing and giving the sailing community a strong boost.

Switzerland is also famous for its technological leadership, with many innovations in sailing having their origin around Lake Geneva, namely sail production technologies like 3DL and 3Di.

Statistics

THE COUNTRY

250’000 sailors
17’000 licenced sailors
148 sailing clubs
54 sailing schools
1500 lakes with a total surface of 1500 Km2

ACHIEVEMENTS

2 America’s Cup victories
1 Olympic gold medals
2 Olympic silver medals
1 Olympic bronze medals

SSL RANKING

SSL best ranked woman: Maud Jayet 43 "
SSL best ranked man: Axel Grandjean 36
SSL nations ranking: 13

MAIN EVENTS

Bol d’Or (with over 500 Boats)

Not a big number, but not many nations have the honor of winning two America’s Cups in a row.

The Captain

Eric Monnin

Self made talent and allrounder, the captain of SSL Team Switzerland has climbed up the Match Racing world rankings to become number one, and being twice European champion. After getting into sailing competition on the Surprise yacht of the family, Eric Monnin sailed on many monohull classes, having won the Platu 25 World championship, as well as on the D35 catamaran fleet on Lake Geneva, twice winning the Bol d’Or.

THE LEADERS

Laurane Mettraux
A member of Switzerland’s SailGP team for the past two years, Laurane Mettraux has over 10 years of sail racing experience at an international level, beginning with the Women’s World Match Racing Tour from 2012 to 2015. Laurane has competed across multiple boat classes during her career, including J70, J80, GC32s and TF35 — and was on board Teamwork, which finished first in the coastal race at the Tour de Bretagne 2021.

Nelson Mettraux
A seasoned Lake Geneva racer, D35 and TF35 specialist, match racer, and former administrator/director of the Centre d’Entraînement à la Régate (CER) in Geneva. Won the Grand Prix of Switzerland (Match Race Switzerland) on Lake Maggiore as skipper of the Geneva Matchrace team and competed as part of high-performance one-design and foiling circuits, including crew roles on the TF35 Trophy (such as Ylliam 17) and the SSL.

Kilian Wagen
Kilian started sailing at the age of 6, in Opti and then Laser 4.7, 420, and finally 470, where he campaigned for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, unfortunately without qualifying. He is currently learning to be a sailmaker, and he is the current J70 World Champion.

Simon Brügger
He grew up in the 420 and 470 and sailed at the Olympics in Sydney and Athens. As a member of the Swiss Match Race Team, he won 3 European titles. Simon is known as an experienced and successful Tactician and trimmer in different classes.

The Youth Factor

Switzerland has a very strong young generation of sailors, claiming Optimist World Champion titles in 2014 and 2016. The 2018 Finn Junior European, the 2019 World Champion and 2020 European Champion in the Women’s Laser 4.7 and Finn European classes confirmed these results for Maude Jayet and Nils Theuninck. Many youth sailors got the opportunity to prove their talent in the Youth America’s Cup, including a podium finish with Team Tilt. This has been crowned with a 4th place at the Tokyo Olympic Games in the 470 for Linda Fahrni and Maja Siegenthaler.

Confirmed Athletes

Captain | 10

TBD | TBD

Helm | 8

TBD | TBD

Trimmer | 5

Floater | 1

TBD | 3

Trimmer | TBD

Pit | 2

TBD | TBD

Grinder | 4

Trimmer | 6

Trimmer | 15

TBD | TBD

Floater | 13

Bow | 11

Midbow | 33

Trimmer | 28

Pit | 12

TBD | TBD

Main Trimmer | 9

Tactician | 18

Spare, Pitmann, Trimmer, Floater | TBD

Theoretical Team Position

1 Bow Laurane Mettraux	2 Midbow Axel Grandjean
3 Pit Morgan Lauber	4 Grinder Nelson Mettraux
5 Trimmer Simon Brügger	6 Trimmer Jessica Berthoud
7 Main Trimmer Kilian Wagen	8 Helm Eric Monnin
9 Tactician Matias Bühler	10 Captain Eric Monnin
11 Floater Cyril Schüpbach

Bow

Laurane Mettraux

Midbow

Axel Grandjean

Pit

Morgan Lauber

Grinder

Nelson Mettraux

Trimmer

Simon Brügger

Trimmer

Jessica Berthoud

Main Trimmer

Kilian Wagen

Helm

Eric Monnin

Tactician

Matias Bühler

Captain

Eric Monnin

Floater

Cyril Schüpbach

Running for the selection

Eric Monnin	Simon Brügger
Nelson Mettraux	Kilian Wagen
Lukas Gerig	Mathieu Ravussin
Morgan Lauber	Axel Grandjean
Laurane Mettraux	Jessica Berthoud
Matias Bühler	Cyril Schüpbach
Maxime Bachelin	Arnaud Gavairon