Marstrand, Sweden (30 June 2025) — Yesterday’s storm winds cleared to deliver ideal conditions for the opening race day of the 2025 GKSS Match Cup Sweden and Nordea Women’s Trophy, official championship stages of the World Match Racing Tour and Women’s World Match Racing Tour. Skipper Jeppe Borch and crew from Denmark, returning to the Tour after several months of injury, leads the open class Match Cup event with five wins and just one loss. In the Nordea Women’s Trophy, defending champion Anna Östling and her Team Wings from Sweden sit undefeated after 4 races, level scored with current women’s world match racing champion Pauline Courtois and the Match in Pink Elite Team form Normandy, France.
After yesterday’s practise session was cancelled for all teams in Marstrand due to storm force winds, the ten Open class teams and eight women’s teams had little time to get up to speed with the Far East 28 fleet of supplied boats for today’s opening races in the Marstrand fjord, an iconic match racing venue since 1984, and one of the founding events of the World Match Racing Tour, this year celebrating its 25th anniversary.
Fortunately, the winds abated to bring a steady 10-12 knots of breeze for the opening qualifying races giving competitors valuable time to hone their skills before tomorrow’s expected stronger breeze again.
Denmark’s Borch has sailed Marstrand before and knew what to expect as his team found an early pace with five wins and one loss from six races.
“It’s awesome to be back on the tour again after my injury kept us out for a few events” commented Borch. “We are excited to be back in Marstrand as we love this venue – we had a good opening day, and we are fired up for the week ahead.”
Seven-time winner of Match Cup Sweden, Björn Hansen is also back this year with his long-term team members Nils Bjerkås, Oskar Ljung and Mathias Bredin. Sailing just three races today, Hansen was quick to remind spectators why he is affectionally named the ‘Master of Marstrand’ as the team went undefeated in all three races.
“It feels great to be back in Marstrand again,” said Hansen. “It’s 31 years since I did my first Match Cup and I still remember the feeling sailing against the likes of Paul Cayard, Peter Gilmour, Ed Baird, Magnus Holmberg. I still get the same feeling when racing today’s stars like Chris Poole, Eric Monnin and Johnie Berntsson. We really feel like we are at home here with the fans on the cliffs and the stadium venue.”
Newcomer to the Marstrand event, Ian Garetta from France and his Med Racing team also had a strong start with four wins from six races.
Defending 2024 Match Cup Sweden winner Chris Poole from the USA had a more challenging day with one win from three races, losing out to the two local teams Björn Hansen and Johnie Berntsson. But Poole knows these events are a marathon and not a sprint and with a stellar crew joining his Riptide Racing team this week with former Sail GP sailor Jake Lilley, youth match racing world champion Cole Tapper, and Cameron Seagreen, they will be one to watch as the week unfolds.
In the Nordea Women’s Trophy, Sweden’s Anna Östling/ Team Wings and France’s Pauline Courtois/ Match in Pink by Normandy Elite Team share the lead after day one with four wins each. Östling and crew, six-time winners of the Women’s Trophy at Match Cup Sweden are favourites this week to defend their title, however Courtois and the Normandy team have their sights firmly set on climbing the podium after their third-place finish at last year’s event.
Results after Day 1
Open class
1 Jeppe Borch, DEN, 5 wins
2 Ian Garreta, FRA, 4 wins
3 Björn Hansen, SWE, 3 wins
4 Johnie Berntsson, SWE 2 wins
Nordea Women’s Trophy
1 Pauline Courtois, FRA, 4 wins
1 Anna Östling, SWE, 4 wins
3 Renee Groeneveld, NED, 2 wins
4 Martina Carlsson, SWE, 1 win
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