America’s Cup: Jimmy Spithill’s clear focus as Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli face American Magic in semifinals

What has happened has happened. Jimmy Spithill is focused on what comes next for his Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli team in their bid to relieve Team New Zealand of the America’s Cup.

It was a stance the Luna Rossa helmsman made abundantly clear one day out from the href="https://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/sailing/americas-cup/americas-cup-three-big-questions-ahead-of-louis-vuitton-cup-semifinals/N22DCR4MJNDELC4YVZF6XWXGVA/"> Louis Vuitton Cup semifinals.

Spithill and his crew will meet American Magic in the best-of-nine knockout series after Ineos Britannia chose to go up against Alinghi Red Bull Racing. It was a decision afforded to the British team by their top-ranked finish in the round-robin stage of the challenger series – beating Luna Rossa in a tiebreaking race to secure the advantage.

It was a position they might not have been in had Luna Rossa’s AC75 been working as it should on the final day of the round-robins, with the Italians having to essentially forfeit their last race against Alinghi, who were the lowest-ranked qualifier for the semifinals, due to an issue with their boat. A win in that race would have locked the top seed up for Spithill and his crew.

The Cup veteran lamented some issues teams were having with some of the one-design componentry supplied for this generation of AC75s after that race but has since put that behind him with the semifinals on the horizon.

So when pressed to clarify what the issue was by a local journalist in Barcelona, the 45-year-old was quick with his response.

“You’re a journalist so I would expect you to go and do a little bit of homework. I’m not going to do it for you because I’m getting ready for the racing, but you can go out and check out the facts,” Spithill said.

“We’re not going to get caught up with what’s happened in the past. I believe in every America’s Cup I’ve participated in, you have to face some challenges, you have to face some speed bumps. All of these teams have faced those moments, and that’s what’s cool about sport.

“There’s no predetermined plan of how it’s going to go. A few things are always going to pop up and that’s why I personally love it.”

Luna Rossa will meet American Magic in the best-of-nine semifinal series when racing resumes early on Sunday morning (NZ time), with the two competing in the first race of the day; Luna Rossa selecting port entry for the first race.

It’s an exciting match-up and one that is happening sooner in the campaign than some expected with the Italians and Americans being tagged as the challengers to beat coming into the regatta.

Neither team has shown all they are capable of to this point in the regatta, though Luna Rossa have looked like a more polished unit on the water.

It’s the same match-up as the semifinal of the challenger series in Auckland in 2021, when Luna Rossa progressed comfortably.

However, things are different among the teams and their AC75s now, and Spithill said Luna Rossa and American Magic were two evenly-matched teams.

“It’s a very exciting prospect to go up against Tom [Slingsby] and the American team. We have a lot of respect for them, we have a lot of respect for everyone involved in the competition, but it’ll be one hell of a match.

“It’s why you do it. You want to go against the world’s best and we believe they’re a fantastic team. I think it will be an exciting semis.”

Christopher Reive joined the Herald sports team in 2017, bringing the same versatility to his coverage as he does to his sports viewing habits.