Dutch win WIM Series Sweden

Lysekil, Sweden (August 12, 2017) – Dutch Olympian Renée Groeneveld and her crew won Lysekil Women’s Match, the 2nd stop on the 2017 WIM Series, by beating Pauline Courtois, FRA, 3 – 1 in today’s final.

“My crew did a very good job today, to keep the boat going in all the very intense matches. It was really tough,” says Groeneveld.

Defending Champion and local hope Anna Östling of the Royal Gothenburg Yacht Club, took the bronze after a 2 – 0 score against Trine Palludan, DEN, in the petite final.

When today’s racing kicked off with the semi finals on the waters of off Släggö in Lysekil, on the beautiful Swedish west coast, it was obvious that the racing temperature had risen. Within just a few metres distance, the delighted spectators were able to follow the world’s foremost match racing women in extremely tight and exciting fights. With a prize purse of SEK 300 000 (USD 37 000), and coveted WIM Series points at stake, no one wants to give even a millimetre, but finally both semis finished 3 – 1 in the favour of Courtois and Groeneveld.

Then the Dutch and the French team had to face each other in the final, starting exactly when clouds with rain and increasing breeze came in over the racecourse. Groeneveld won the first fight, but Courtois immediately broke back to 1 – 1.

“I think we had a quite comfortable lead, but Pauline came with pressure from behind on the last downwind, and managed to pass us at the finish,” says Groeneveld, who then secured her victory by winning two straight matches.

“Honestly we made no big mistakes today, but not even small ones are acceptable when facing Renée. She’s done an amazing job all week,” Courtois praises her opponent.

After the semi finals it was evident that home sailor Anna Östling wouldn’t defend her Lysekil title from last year. Instead she had to reload to avoid becoming fourth.

“Of course we had much rather raced in the final, but now we’re satisfied with a podium position,” says Östling, who advances to second place on WIM Series as half of the events are done. “We’re very happy that we focused and delivered in the bronze matches, though we didn’t really have the speed advantage we’re used to. It’s always fun to conclude an event with a few wins.”

The World Championship silver medal at the beginning of the summer, and the triumph here in Lysekil, takes Groeneveld and her team to the top of the WIM Series leader board. Trine Palludan is on third, on the same point as Östling, while Courtois holds fourth place. Thanks to her 5th place in Lysekil, Swede Caroline Sylvan advances to the same place on WIM Series. Events in Korea in October and US Virgin Islands in December still remain.

Results in the Final
Pauline Courtois, FRA – Renée Groeneveld, NED, 1 – 3

Results in the Petit-Final
Anna Östling, SWE – Trine Palludan, DEN, 2 – 0

Results in the Semi-Finals
Trine Palludan, DEN – Pauline Courtois, FRA 1 – 3
Anna Östling, SWE – Renée Groeneveld, NED 1 – 3

Final Standings (with prize money)
1. Dutch Match Racing Team
Renée Groeneveld, Marcelien Bos-De Koning, Lobke Berkhout, Marije Kampen, Mijke Lievens – NED; 100 000 SEK
2. Match in Pink by Normandy Elite Team
Pauline Courtois, Maëlenn LeMaître, Louise Acker, Margot Vennin, Albine de la Valette – FRA; 47 000 SEK
3. Team Anna
Anna Östling, Karin Almquist Knigge, Linnéa Wennergren, Annie Wennergren, Annika Carlunger – SWE; 39 500 SEK
4. Team Kattnakken
Trine Palludan, Josefine Boel Rasmussen, Helle Jespersen, Trine Bentzen, Maria Reinhold – DEN;31 000 SEK
5. New Sweden Match Racing Team
Caroline Sylvan, Louise Kruuse af Verchou, Klara Ekdahl, Frida Langenius, Malin Holmberg – SWE; 27 500 SEK
6. ChicaCER Women Match Racing Team
Alexa Bezel, Fiona Testuz, Manon Kivell, Bérénice Charrez, Nicole Bolliger – SUI; 24 000 SEK
7. Team Bergqvist Match Racing
Johanna Bergqvist, Isabelle Bergqvist, Johanna Thiringer, Ellinor Hansson, Fanny Edgren – SWE; 19 000 SEK
8. L2 Match Racing Team
Marinella Laaksonen, Susanna Kukkonen, Daniela Rönnberg, Camilla Cedercreutz, Eva-Lotta Hokkonen – FIN; 13 000 SEK
9. Peregrine Racing
Linnéa Floser, Hanna Ericksson, Sara Edholm, Charlotte Eklund, Karin Ahlgren – SWE; 0 SEK
10. Athena Racing
Octavia Owen, Ruby Riggs, Amber Riggs, Hebe Hemming, Louise Lindkvist – GBR; 0 SEK; 7
11. Team Sköna Vibbisar
Antonia Degerlund, Carla Westersund, Janina Hallberg, Roosa Wederhorn, Lisa Gerkman – FIN; 0 SEK

Series details – Event details – Results – Facebook

Format: Teams will race Fareast 28R boats with the plan to hold the quarterfinals on Friday (Aug 11), while semis and final will be sailed Saturday. Consequently, the first three days will see the single round-robin and the repechage stage:

Competing skippers with ranking:

Anna Östling, SWE, 1
Local match racing ace and Olympian Anna Östling is not only #1 on the World Sailing ranking, double World Champion and overall winner of the 2016 WIM Series. Last year she also managed to take her first triumph in Lysekil Women’s Match and now will seek to defend her title. To develop their sailing skills and have fun is the ambition of Team Anna, and they are looking forward to race in the brand new Fareast 28R.

Renée Groeneveld, NED, 2
Renée Groeneveld took the World Championship bronze medal in the USA last year, and later she also won the WIM Series finale on US Virgin Islands. This year she finished runner-up in the Helsinki Worlds. In the 2012 Olympic Games in Weymouth, the Dutch sailing star reached the quarter finals. Groeneveld represents Haarlemsche Jachtclub close to Amsterdam, and looks after customer service and planning at Vopak when not sailing.

Caroline Sylvan, SWE, 4
Östlings fellow club member of the Royal Gothenburg Yacht Club, 28 years old Caroline Sylvan, finished 5th on the 2016 WIM Series. Currently she’s holding the same spot on the World Sailing ranking, close to Groeneveld. Sylvan participated in all the 2016 WIM Series events, and earlier in her career she sailed a large number of international championships in different dinghy classes.

Marinella Laaksonen, FIN, 6
25 years old mathematics student Marinella Laaksonen is not only the highest ranked female Finnish skipper on the World Sailing ranking, but she also has two straight National Championships in Women’s Match Racing. Before getting into match racing, Marinella sailed dinghy classes like Europe dinghy, Zoom 8 and 49erFX. She finished 5th in the World Championship on her home waters of Helsinki earlier this summer, and is doing her second Lysekil event.

Pauline Courtois, FRA, 7
28 years old sport teacher Pauline Courtois from Brest started sailing at seven and racing at nine. She has been in match racing on different positions since 2011. In 2013 she finished runner-up when calling the tactics for Julie Bossard in the WIM Series event in Saint-Quay-Portrieux, and took a bronze medal in the French championships. Pauline finished 7th on the 2016 WIM Series, and this year will be her third in Lysekil.

Trine Palludan, DEN, 8
As a main trimmer and tactician in successful Team Ulrikkeholm, 38 years old Trine Palludan from famous sailing metropolis Hellerup has got three World Championship silver medals. Trine will again be helming the Danish team, as she did in Busan in 2014 and 2016. But steering the boat is not a new task for Trine, who in 2004 became both World and European Champion as an Yngling skipper. When not sailing Trine works as a chiropractor in Frederiksberg, in the Danish capital Copenhagen.

Antonia Degerlund, FIN, 12
Living in small town Grankulla just west from Finnish capital Helsinki, 30 years old Antonia Degerlund represents NJK, the yacht club that introduced matchracing in the country. Antonia is a management consultant at world-renowned company Accenture, also managing her own match racing team since a couple of years. Antonia and her crew states that in their boat the purpose of sailing is to have fun. In the 2016 Finnish Match Racing Nationals they finished 4th.

Alexa Bezel, SUI, 17
In Horgen on the west coast of the elongated Lake Zürich, right where the ferry to Meilen departs, is the home waters of Swiss skipper Alexa Bezel, 25, and her team. Their sailing background is in 470 and Laser as well as in keelboats, multihulls and Volvo Ocean Race. In 2012 the girls in Team ChicaCER came to Lysekil for the first time, and shocked everybody with their runner-up result! In 2015 and 2016 they finished 7th in Lysekil.

Johanna Bergqvist, SWE, 18
Team X Match Racing was born just a few years ago as a Swedish team from Gothenburg. Skipper Johanna Bergqvist has already, at age 21, competed at several international regattas in different dinghy classes. Since her debut she’s been able to gain more than 100 spots on the World Sailing match racing ranking, and she was extremely close to getting through to the quarterfinals of this year’s World Championship. Most of her crewmembers have a background in dinghies, but some also have experience in keel-boat racing.

Linnea Floser, SWE, 22
Living in the Swedish capital Stockholm, and representing the Royal Swedish Yacht Club, 25 years old Linnea Floser started her international match racing career in the WIM Series event on US Virgin Islands late last year. She has raced several dinghy classes and is working as the head coach for local sailing club Boo SS, and as skipper at match racing centre At Sea Events. Linnea Floser is a certified personal trainer, and has studied science and meteorology at the Stockholm University.

Octavia Owen, GBR, 26
Youngster skipper of the year is 18 years old Octavia Owen from West Kirby Sailing Club on the British westcoast, just outside Liverpool. In 2015 Octavia was part of the silver team in the team racing worlds, and she also has a silver medal from the Women’s National Match Racing Championships. She began match racing in 2015, after a career in Cadet and Firefly. Her team Athena Racing consists of young women who have sailed together since they were five. They’re now making their WIM Series debut in Lysekil.

Background: The Women’s International Match Racing Series is in its fifth season, providing in 2017 a four-event professional sailing circuit organized by the Women’s International Match Racing Association for the world’s leading women match racing sailors.

2017 Women’s International Match Racing Series
June 16-21 – Women’s Match Racing World Championship – Helsinki, Finland
August 7-12 – Lysekil Women’s Match – Lysekil, Sweden
November 13-18 – Busan Cup Women’s International Match Race – Busan, South Korea
Nov 30-Dec 3 – Carlos Aguilar Match Race – St Thomas, US Virgin Islands

WIM Series Standings (After 2 events)
1. Renée Groeneveld, Dutch Match Racing Team, NED, 47
2. Anna Östling, Team Anna, SWE, 38
3. Trine Palludan, Team Experience, DEN, 38
4. Pauline Courtois, Match in Pink by Normandy Elite Team, FRA, 34
5. Caroline Sylvan, New Sweden Match Racing Team, SWE, 26
6. Marinella Laaksonen, L2 Match Racing Team, FIN, 26
7. Lucy Macgregor, Team Mac, GBR, 25
8. Johanna Bergqvist, Team Bergqvist Match Racing, SWE, 20
9. Alexa Bezel, ChicaCER Women Match Racing Team, SUI, 14
10. Mikaela Fors, Pen & Hammer Sailing Team, FIN, 14
11. Antonia Degerlund, Team Sköna Vibbisar, FIN, 11
12. Linnéa Floser, Peregrine Racing, SWE, 8
13. Octavia Owen, Athena Racing, GBR, 7
14. Margot Riou, APCC Women’s Sailing Team , FRA, 7
15. Martina Karlemo, Team Karlemo, FIN, 6
16. Sanna Häger, Stockholm Match Racing Team, SWE, 4
17. Ekaterina Kochkina, Team SailWay, RUS, 3

Source: WIM Series