Marstrand, Sweden (2 July 2025) The qualifying round-robin stages at GKSS Match Cup Sweden in Marstrand finished today with the surprise departure of defending champion USA’s Chris Poole/ Riptide Racing and Switzerland’s Eric Monnin/ Capvis Swiss Match Racing Team from the Open Class. In the Women’s Class, local favourite and defending Women’s Trophy champion Anna Östling/ Team Wings from Sweden defeated current world champion Pauline Courtois/ Match in Pink Normandy Elite Team to win the round-robin stage and fast-track to the semi-final.
Today was a crucial points day for teams in both classes at GKSS Match Cup Sweden to make the cut and advance to the knockout quarter-final stages. In the Open Class, seven-time winner of the event and local favourite Björn Hansen and his Hansen Sailing Team of Nils Bjerkås, Oskar Ljung and Mathias Bredin continued their dominant charge to finish the round with 8 wins and just one loss to Denmark’s Jeppe Borch.
Borch (Team Borch Matchrace) and Sweden’s Johnie Berntsson (Berntsson Sailing Team) each notched a 6–3 win/loss score to finish the round in second and third. France’s Ian Garreta (Med Racing) and Swedish up-and-comer Marius Westerlind finished with matching 5–4 records, while Oscar Engström (SWE, Team LIROS) and Aurélien Pierroz (FRA, Match Again by Normandy Elite Team) claimed the final two quarter-final spots at 4–5.
The surprise of the day, however, was the early departure of defending 2024 Match Cup Sweden winner Chris Poole (USA, Riptide Racing), and recent winner of the Long Beach Congressional Cup Switzerland’s Eric Monnin (Capvis Swiss Match Race Team). After a disappointing week sailing with a new crew and with a cancelled practise day ion Sunday, Poole and team managed only win out of nine races, while Monnin and crew closed the round with three wins and six losses. Also to leave the competition is Australia’s Zac West/ Sail+Racing Team.
In the Nordea Women’s Trophy, Sweden’s Anna Östling and Team Wings delivered a clean sweep of seven wins undefeated, confirming their status as front-runners heading into the quarterfinals. A nail-biting match-up against France’s Pauline Courtois/ Match in Pink by Normandy Elite Team rallied the spectators watching on the rocks as the Swedish and French teams swapped multiple leads around the course before the Östling and crew were able to cross the line first to a loud ovation from the shoreline.
The Wings team advance to the semi-finals with Courtois and crew finishing the stage with an impressive 6–1 win/loss score. Meanwhile, Julia Aartsen of the Netherlands impressed with a 5–2 record at the helm of Team Out of the Box, a rising team gaining fast respect on the women’s world tour and keen to make the podium in Marstrand.
Also advancing are Renee Groeneveld (NED) at 4–3, local favourite Martina Carlsson (SWE) and her Beyond Sailing Team on 3–4, and New Zealand’s Megan Thomson (2.0 Racing) at 2–5. New Zealand’s Celia Willison (Edge Women’s Match), usually a consistent knockout-stage presence, has struggled to find form this week, advancing with just one win (1–6). Denmark’s Kristine Mauritzen and the Seagulls team exit the competition with a 0–7 scoreline.
The Quarter-final stages for both classes get underway tomorrow with crowds expected to build over the next three days for the final on Saturday.
GKSS Match Cup Sweden https://wmrt.com/live-results/
Nordea Women’s Trophy https://womenswmrt.com/live-results/
ABOUT WORLD MATCH RACING TOUR
Founded in 2000, the World Match Racing Tour (WMRT) promotes the sport of match racing around the world and is the longest running global professional series in the sport of sailing. The WMRT is awarded ‘Special Event’ status by the sport’s world governing body –World Sailing – and the winner of the WMRT each year is crowned World Sailing Match Racing World Champion. Since 2000, the World Match Racing Tour and its events have awarded over USD24million in prize money to sailors which has helped to contribute to the career pathway of many of today’s professional sailors. www.wmrt.com
ABOUT WOMEN’S WORLD MATCH RACING TOUR
The Women’s World Match Racing Tour was launched in 2022 to continue the hugely successful legacy of the WIM Series(Women’s International Match Racing Series) providing a global match racing series for female sailors. The name of the series was re-launched as theWomen’s World Match Racing Tour with its continued mission to expand and strengthen global match racing and promote opportunities for competitive women’s sailing at every level. The Women’s World Match Racing Tour is the world’s first and only professional sailing series for women providing a valuable pathway for aspiring female world champions in the sport of sailing.See womenswmrt.com