STAGE SET FOR FINAL DAY SHOWDOWN IN MARSTRAND
Marstrand, Sweden (4 July 2025) – With just one day to go at the 2025 GKSS Match Cup Sweden and Nordea Women’s Trophy, the stage is set for a thrilling finale in both the Open and Women’s classes. Seven-time winner of the event Björn ‘Master of Marstrand’ Hansen once again showed his teams experience to secure their spot in tomorrow’s final, defeating Oscar Engström 3-1 in a tense semi-final. Denmark’s Jeppe Borch joins Hansen in the final after winning over local favourite Johnie Berntsson 3-2 in their semi-final match. In the Nordea Women’s Trophy, women’s match racing world champion Pauline Courtois/ Match in Pink from France leads Sweden’s Martina Carlsson/ Beyond Sailing Team 2-0 in the first-to-three points match. Defending champion Anna Östling/ Wings Sailing are levelled 1-1 against Dutch team Out of the Box led by skipper Julia Aartsen. The remaining women’s class semi-final matches will be completed tomorrow.
Despite a brief break in racing for a passing thunderstorm with lightning, it was all action on the Marstrand fjord as the semi-final matches got underway in the Open and Women’s classes of the 31st edition of GKSS Match Cup Sweden, world championship stage of the 2025 World Match Racing Tour.
In a clash of Swedish match racing generations, seven-time winner of the Marstrand event Bjorn Hansen, 58/ Hansen Sailing Team was paired against 24-year-old Youth Swedish America’s Cup youth skipper Oscar Engström and his Team Liros. While Engström and his young team of Rasmus Alnebeck, Emil Wolfgang and Filip Karlsson were agile in their handling of the Far East 28 boats, Hansen and his long-term crew of Nils Bjerkås, Oskar Ljung, Mathias Bredin proved once again they are no strangers to the tactical nuances of match racing over the last 20 years, and defeated Engström 3-1 to punch their ticket to another Marstrand final.
In the second pairing, Dane Jeppe Borch, returning to the World Match Racing Tour after recovering from injury, was back in business today with his team hungry to clinch their first Marstrand crown. Borch and crew fought hard to defeat local favourite Johnie Berntsson 3-2 in a close five match duel.
In the Nordea Women’s Trophy, the semi-final matchups were delivering just as much drama. Top-ranked French skipper Pauline Courtois and her Match in Pink Normandy Elite Team have taken a commanding 2-0 lead over Sweden’s Martina Carlsson/ Beyond Sailing Team in their first-to-three points match.
The second women’s semi-final is poised on a knife’s edge, with Sweden’s Anna Östling and her Wings Sailing team locked 1-1 against the ever-improving Dutch crew Team Out of the Box, led by Julia Aartsen.
Despite a rain front forecast to move across Western Sweden tomorrow, spectators are expected to line the cliffs of Marstrand for Saturday’s finals in what promises to be a thrilling showdown for the finals of this iconic event.
For full results, follow:
GKSS Match Cup Sweden https://wmrt.com/live-results/
Nordea Women’s Trophy https://womenswmrt.com/live-results/
For more information on the Nordea Women’s Trophy, gkssmatchcupsweden.se
8 teams are competing in the 2025 GKSS Match Cup Sweden - Women’s Nordea Trophy:
Pauline Courtois (FRA) - Match In Pink by Normandie Elite Team - Maelenn Lemaitre, Louise Acker, Laurane Mettraux, Thea Khelif
Anna Östling (SWE) - WINGS - Anna Holmdahl White, Linnea Wennergren, jenny Axhede, Annika Carlunger
Julia Aartsen (NED) - Team Out of the Box - Iris van Gerrevink, Eva Asbeek Brusse, Nerine Usman, Ismene Usman
Kristine Mauritzen (DEN) - Those Seagulls - Helena Formgren, Mille Jensen, Julie Erhardsen, Maria Reinhold
Megan Thomson (NZL) - 2.0 Racing Team - Liv Mackay, Charlotte Porter, Tiana Whitty, Josi Andres
Martina Carlsson (SWE) - Beyond Sailing Team - Svea Sahlin, Amanda Ljunggren, Hanna Gaskell-Brown, Hedvig Hedstrom
Renee Groeneveld (NED) - Dutch Match Racing - Mijke Levens, Lobke Berkhout, Marije Tijssenkampen, Sandra Sandqist
Celia Willison (NZL) - Edge Women’s Match - Jess Berthoud, Rosie Rowell, Clare Costanzo, Serena Woodall
For more updates and information on the Women’s World Match Racing Tour and event documents, visit womenswmrt.com and follow us on social media at Facebook (@womenswmrt), Instagram(@womenswmrt) and X (Twitter) (@womenswmrt)
Women’s World Match Racing Tour 2025 Schedule:
Stage 1 Casa Vela Cup, San Francisco USA, 28-31 May
Stage 2 Santa Maria Cup, Annapolis USA, 4-7 June
Stage 4. Nordea Women’s Trophy – Match Cup Sweden, Marstrand, 30 June – 5 July
Stage 5. Women’s Match Racing World Championship, Chicago, 17-20 September
Stage 6. Bermuda Women’s Match Race, Bermuda, 21-26 October
*Dates listed race days only
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 the Women’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. womenswmrt.com
womenswmrt.com
