Top eight advance at Women’s Match Racing Worlds

Ekaterinburg, Russia (August 16, 2018) – The top four teams after the round robin earned the rights to play tourist for the day while the remaining seven teams fought in the Repechage round for the chance to join the top four in the quarter finals at the 2018 Women’s Match Racing World Championship.

Alexa Bezel’s Swiss Women’s Match Racing Team regrouped after missing the cut yesterday and finished on top of the second stage. “We talked as a team last night and decided it was important to be precise today, get good starts, focus on good spinnaker flying,” explained Bezel. “Our last few events have been with gennakers, so our spinnaker handling needed to get a little better and it did today.”

The strategy appeared to work as they won all but one very close match.

The eight teams who will advance to the Quarter Finals:

• Lucy Macgregor, Team Mac, GBR
• Pauline Courtois, Match in Pink by Normandy Elite Team, FRA
• Trine Palludan, Team Kattnakken, DEN
• Ekaterina Kochkina, ProKaTeam Sailing Team, RUS
• Alexa Bezel, Swiss Women Match Racing Team, SUI
• Alexandra Martynova, BornToSail, RUS
• Milena Laverycheva, BERGAUF Sailing Team, RUS
• Marinella Laaksonen, L2 Match Racing Team, FIN

Although this is local sailor Milena Laverycheva’s first world championship in any class, she is not intimidated by the level of the event or her competitors. “We are all on the same playing field and sailing in the same conditions so it is the same for everyone,” she explained after making the cut. “We will rest and be ready for tomorrow.”

The match between Bezel and Laverycheva near the end of the day was the closest of the day with multiple lead changes and a photo finish with the Russians finishing mere centimeters ahead of the Swiss to give Bezel’s team their only loss for the Repechage stage.

Laverycheva lost the second place tie-break in the stage to her compatriot Alexandra Martynova’s BornToSail team from the Volga River area who finished the day also with four wins and two losses and a ticket to the Quarter Finals.

The last spot in the Quarter Finals was decided on a tie-break as Marinella Laaksonen and her L2 Match Racing Team from Finland squeezed in by winning the tie-break over the French APCC Women Sailing Team skippered by Margot Riou by winning their first flight battle.

The 2018 edition of the World Championship celebrates the 20th anniversary of the event. As the third event of the WIM Series, racing is held in Ricochet-747 boats from August 14 to 18.

Day Three Results:

Stage 2 – Repechage Results (skipper, team name, nationality, wins – losses):
1. Alexa Bezel, Swiss Women Match Racing Team, SUI, 5-1
2. Alexandra Martynova, BornToSail, RUS, 4-2
3. Milena Laverycheva, BERGAUF Sailing Team, RUS, 4-2
4. Marinella Laaksonen, L2 Match Racing Team, FIN, 3-3
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5. Margot Riou, APCC Women Sailing Team , FRA, 3-3
6. Margot Vennin, Matchmoiselles by Normandy Elite Team, FRA, 1-5
7. Octavia Owen, Athena Racing, GBR, 1-5

Stage 1 Round Robin Results (skipper, team name, nationality, wins – losses):
1. Lucy Macgregor, Team Mac, GBR, 10-0
2. Pauline Courtois, Match in Pink by Normandy Elite Team, FRA, 9-1
3. Trine Palludan, Team Kattnakken, DEN, 8-2
4. Ekaterina Kochkina, ProKaTeam Sailing Team, RUS, 6-4
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5. Alexa Bezel, Swiss Women Match Racing Team, SUI, 5-5
6. Marinella Laaksonen, L2 Match Racing Team, FIN, 5-5
7. Milena Laverycheva, BERGAUF Sailing Team, RUS, 5-5
8. Alexandra Martynova, BornToSail, RUS, 3-7
9. Margot Riou, APCC Women Sailing Team , FRA, 2-8
10. Octavia Owen, Athena Racing, GBR, 1-9
11. Margot Vennin, Matchmoiselles by Normandy Elite Team, FRA, 1-9

WIM Series – Event details – Facebook

Entry list:
• Match in Pink by Normandy Elite Team – France
Pauline Courtois, Maëlenn Lemaître, Louise Acker, Nathalie Corson, Sophie Faguet
• L2 Match Racing Team – Finland
Marinella Laaksonen, Daniela Rönnberg, Marianna Kontulainen, Eva-Lotta
Hokkonen
• Team Kattnakken – Denmark
Trine Palludan, Anne Sofie Munk-Hansen, Louise Ulrikkeholm Bredvig, Joan Wester Hansen
• Swiss Women Match Racing Team – Switzerland
Alexa Bezel, Fiona Testuz, Manon Kivell, Nicole Bolliger
• Team Mac – Great Britain
Lucy Macgregor, Annie Lush, Nicky Walsh, Kate Macgregor
• Athena Racing – Great Britain
Octavia Owen, Ruby Riggs, Amber Riggs, Hebe Hemming
• Matchmoiselles by Normandy Elite Team – France
Margot Vennin, Marie Zugolaro, Juliette Dubreuil, Adèle Marévéry, Sophonie Affagard
• APCC Women Sailing Team – France
Margot Riou, Clémentine Hilaire, Caroline Vandame, Tiphaine Ragueneau
• ProKaTeam Sailing Team – Russia
Ekaterina Kochkina, Svetlana Sidorova, Anastasia Gladysheva, Antonina Tikhonova
• BERGAUF Sailing Team – Russia
Milena Laverycheva, Olga Ivanova, Ksenia Trushkina, Tatyana Razumova
• BornToSail – Russia
Alexandra Martynova, Liudmila Dmitrieva, Anastasia Shcheglova, Yana Stokolesova

Standings in WIM Series 2018 after two events (team, skipper, nationality, points):
1. Team Kattnakken / Women On Water, Trine Palludan / Henriette Koch – DEN, 47
2. Match in Pink by Normandy Elite Team, Pauline Courtois – FRA, 45
3. Team Bergqvist Match Racing, Johanna Bergqvist – SWE, 40
4. L2 Match Racing Team, Marinella Laaksonen – FIN, 32
5. Team Sköna Vibbisar, Antonia Degerlund – FIN, 24
6. Team Anna, Anna Östling – SWE, 20
7. New Sweden Match Racing Team, Caroline Sylvan / Claire Leroy – SWE / FRA, 16
8. Team BAAM!, Allie Blecher – USA, 16
9. Matchmoiselles by Normandy Elite Team, Margot Vennin – FRA, 14
10. Swiss Women Match Racing Team, Alexa Bezel – SUI, 12
11. NZ Match, Celia Willison – NZL, 12
12. Stockholm Match Racing Team, Sanna Häger – SWE, 10
13. Swedish Women’s Match Racing Team, Sanna Mattsson – SWE, 10
14. ProKaTeam Sailing Team, Ekaterina Kochkina – RUS, 8
15. Team Skogman, Jassi Skogman – FIN, 8
16. APCC Women Sailing Team , Margot Riou – FRA, 6
17. Athena Racing, Octavia Owen – GBR, 5
18. Peregrine Racing, Hanna Ericksson – SWE, 5

Background:
The Women’s International Match Racing Association (WIMRA) was formed in 1996 and is an international association of women sailors whose mission is to expand and strengthen global match racing and promote opportunities for competitive women’s sailing at every level.

WIMRA created the first and only professional sailing series for women in 2013 – the Women’s International Match Racing Series (WIM Series). The WIM Series delivers a global circuit of competition to test the world’s best sailors in a format of round robin and knock-out matches.

2018 WIM Series Schedule
June 25-29: Helsinki Women’s Match – Helsinki, Finland (J/80)
August 6-11: Lysekil Women’s Match – Lysekil, Sweden (Fareast 28r)
August 14-18: Women’s Match Racing World Championship – Ekaterinburg, Russia (Ricochet 747)
October 30-November 3: Swiss International Women’s Match – Ascona, Switzerland (J/70)
November 29-Decenber 2: Carlos Aguilar Match Race – St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands (IC 24)

Source: WIM Series