Women’s Match Racing World Championship 2019 Starts in Sweden

On August 5th, Lysekil Women’s Match also the official Women’s Match Racing World Championship starts in Sweden. Five days of sailing awaits for the twelve teams fighting for the World Champion title 2019.

The competition is then determined in a round robin where all teams face each other. The best teams from the round robin reach the quarter-finals, which are followed by semi-finals and the final. The final will be raced on Saturday, August 10th.

After the first day of competition we have four teams on equal points at the top of the leader board in Lysekil Women’s Match, the 2019 World Championship: Johanna Bergqvist, Pauline Courtois, Anna Östling and Claire Leroy all counting four wins and one loss, but Leroy losing 1/2 point for damage.

At the initial stage of the competition all crews will face each other in a Round Robin to determine which teams will proceed directly to the quarter finals, and who will have to rely on their performance in the repechage to make it to the next stage. During day one 10 out of 22 flights in the Round Robin were completed. Four teams have won four of their first five matches: local teams Johanna Bergqvist and Anna Östling of Sweden, and Frenchwomen Pauline Courtois and Claire Leroy.

The competition could not have started better for Johanna Bergqvist and her crew as they won their first four matches, heading in to the afternoon as the only undefeated team:
– We had a great day today: the girls have done an amazing job. Pauline Courtois sailed better than us and there is not much more to say about that. But we really had a great first day and are looking forward to tomorrow.

Pauline Courtois who made sure to finish of the day with a statement as they beat thereto undefeated Bergqvist Match Racing in their last match. All in all, a pretty good day for the French team: During the first day we saw all kinds of weather conditions in Lysekil. In the morning, the sailors had to deal with heavy rain and light winds, but in the afternoon the wind picked up as the sky cleared.