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| DAY
6 & Overall
(Source
: sailsail.com)
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| Russell Coutts of the Alinghi
Challenge for the America's Cup has won the Swedish Match
Cup, the eighth and final event of Swedish Match Tour Year
2 in Marstrand, Sweden. The victory was especially trying
for the skipper as he battled food poisoning and dehydration
over the last two days of the regatta.
In spite of his ailments however, Coutts, the only man to
win an Olympic Gold Medal and the America's Cup, as well as
the author of a book on match racing tactics, left no doubt
to those lining the Kvornberget cliffs of Marstrand, that
he is a master match racer.
After dropping the first match in the first-to-three-wins
final, Coutts survived a penalty in a tight second match to
even the score with Pillot at one all. Coutts then sailed
clear of Pillot in cleanly winning the finals' third and fourth
matches.
This is Coutts' second win on the Swedish Match Tour. He previously
won the Colorcraft Gold Cup in Bermuda last October.
The day began with the largest of disappointments as Sweden's
Magnus Holmberg and his Team Stora Enso crew squandered the
2-0 lead in the best-of-five semifinals they had established
on Saturday. Holmberg was swept three matches to zero by his
French opponent and saw his goal of winning the regatta he
helped create, while working for the Royal Gothenberg Yacht
Club, fall short.
Joining Holmberg on the sideline was his fellow countryman
Bjorn Hansen who lost the third straight, and final, match
of his semifinal tilt to Coutts.
Holmberg was able to regain a small measure of satisfaction
in the all-Swedish petit finals however by defeating Hansen,
representing the Royal Stockholm Yacht Club, 2- 0 to finish
third. A five-to-eight knot easterly wind battled the seabreeze
all day providing fuel for these competitors' engines. Afternoon
clouds offered welcome relief from the intense heat and humidity
which marked the final days of the regatta.
FINALS RESULTS
Pillot def. Coutts
Coutts def. Pillot
Coutts def. Pillot
PETIT FINALS RESULTS
Holmberg def. Hansen
Holmberg def. Hansen
SEMIFINAL RESULTS
Round 1 : Coutts def. Hansen - Holmberg def. Pillot
Round 2 Coutts def. Hansen - Holmberg def. Pillot
Round 3 : Coutts def. Hansen - Pillot def. Holmberg
Round 4 : Pillot def. Holmberg
Round 5 : Pillot def. Holmberg
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| DAY
5
(Source
: sailsail.com)
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| Swedish skipper Magnus Holmberg
has a dream position for the conclusion of the semi finals
tomorrow. With two straight wins against Luc Pillot today,
he only has to win once to make it to the finals. Bringing
the Frenchman to his knees was not easily done, however. The
matches were tough, close, intense and very exciting: "Today
was tough", Magnus admits. "But it sure feels like we’ll make
it to the finals!"
In the other semi final Russell Coutts, New Zealand, who sails
for Switzerland, met Björn Hansen, Sweden. Coutts contracted
food poisoning the night before and was hardly able to stand
up only hours before the semi finals started. Nevertheless
his sailing was just as superb as we’ve come to expect, and
he ended up with two wins:
"Russell was taken really bad and I’m really impressed with
his performance today. We were really scared we’d have to
sail without him", crewmember Simon Daubney says:
"At the start of today’s semi finals we needed three wins
to make it to the finals, and we still do", Björn Hansen says,
trying for a hopeful attitude. He may have last year’s finals
in mind, when Kiwi Dean Barker managed to turn 0-2 into a
3-2 victory against Frenchman Bertrand Pacé.
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| DAY
4
(Source
: sailsail.com)
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| Russell Coutts of the Alinghi
Challenge clearly shook off the rust as he dominated the competition
in today's quarterfinal action to advance to the semifinals
of the Swedish Match Cup, the eighth and final event of Swedish
Match Tour Year 2 in Marstrand, Sweden.
Coutts won his first six matches of the day and backed up
his promise earlier in the week of "getting better each day
of the regatta." His performance today evoked memories of
his dominant victory at last October's Colorcraft Gold Cup
in Bermuda, the only other match race event he has done in
the past year.
Joining Coutts in the semifinals after posting five wins is
Magnus Holmberg of Team Stora Enso and the Swedish Victory
Challenge, Luc Pillot of France, and with four wins, and by
virtue of a countback over Gavin Brady of Prada, Bjorn Hansen
of Sweden. Hansen's high wire act into the next round means
that for the first time in the eight year history of the Swedish
Match Cup there will be two Swedes sailing in the "money round."
After dropping his first two matches of the day to Pillot
and Brady, Swedish Match Tour Year 2 Champion Magnus Holmberg
rallied to win his next five and put himself in position to
advance to Saturday's semi-finals. His fourth win on the day
was an important one. The Swede took advantage of formerly
white-hot Jes Gram-Hansen in a match which would have put
him in a tie on the leaderboard with the Danish skipper at
three wins and might have proved disastrous to GKSS' shining
star had the chance to advance come down to a countback.
It was a tough day for the winners of the first round robin.
Andy Green of the GBR Challenge, Jes Gram-Hansen of Denmark
and Jochen Schuemann who had all shared the leads of their
round robin groups, found themselves fighting for air all
day as their fortunes reversed off the cliffs of Marstrand.
Quarterfinals Leaderboard (Skipper/Wins/Losses)
Russell Coutts (Alinghi Challenge), 6/1
Magnus Holmberg (Victory Challenge), 5/2
Luc Pillot (FRA), 5/2
Bjorn Hansen (SWE), 4/3*
Gavin Brady (Prada Challenge), 4/3
Jes Gram-Hansen (DEN), 3/4
Jochen Schuemann (Alinghi Challenge), 1/6
Andy Green (GBR Challenge), 0/7
*Hansen proceeds after beating Brady in Flight 5.
Quarterfinal Action
Flight 1 : Jochen Schuemann def. Andy Green - Bjorn Hansen
def. Jes Gram-Hansen - Luc Pillot def. Magnus Holmberg - Russell
Coutts def. Gavin Brady
Flight 2 : Hansen def. Green - Coutts def. Pillot - Gram-Hansen
def. Schuemann - Brady def. Holmberg
Flight 3 : Gram-Hansen def. Pillot - Coutts def. Schuemann
- Brady def. Green - Holmberg def. Hansen
Flight 4 : Brady def. Gram-Hansen - Holmberg def. Schuemann
- Coutts def. Hansen - Pillot def. Green
Flight 5 : Hansen def. Brady - Holmberg def. Green - Coutts
def. Gram-Hansen - Pillot def. Schuemann
Flight 6 : Holmberg def. Gram-Hansen - Coutts def. Green -
Pillot def. Hansen - Brady def. Schuemann
Flight 7 : Holmberg def. Coutts - Pillot def. Brady - Hansen
def. Schuemann - Gram-Hansen def. Green
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| DAY
3
(Source
: sailsail.com)
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It is an upside down leaderboard at the Swedish Match
Cup as America's Cup holder Team New Zealand, former world
match racing champion Chris Dickson of Oracle Racing and
five-time Swedish Match Cup champion Peter Gilmour of Team
Pizza La have all fallen by the wayside after first round
action.
Those moving on to the next round are Andy Green of the
GBR Challenge who lost his first two matches on the day
but rallied to win his final two and share a tie of first
place with 5 wins. Joining Green "on five" were Luc Pillot
of France and Sweden's Bjorn Hansen.
Rounding out the qualifiers is Gavin Brady of the Prada
Challenge who finished round robin action tied with Victory
Challenge's Jesper Bank at four wins. Brady advanced courtesy
of his win over Bank in Flight 3.
After winning his first match of the day in Flight 4, Barker
dropped his final three matches to fall from contention.
Gilmour had an even day winning two and losing two, but
was unable to break into the top four spots. Dickson's fate
was more dire as he suffered the same result as Barker's
teammate Bertrand Pace in Group A and was winless for the
regatta.
Joining today's qualifiers in quarterfinal action are Group
A's Russell Coutts and Jochen Schuemann of the Alinghi Challenge,
Jes Gram-Hansen of Denmark and Magnus Holmberg of Team Stora
Enso and the Swedish Victory Challenge.
Leaderboard (Skipper / Wins / Losses)
GROUP A
Jochen Schuemann (Alinghi Challenge), 6/1
Russell Coutts (Alinghi Challenge), 6/1
Jes Gram-Hansen (DEN), 6/1
Magnus Holmberg (Victory Challenge), 3/4*
Jesper Radich (DEN), 3/4
Johnie Berndtsson (SWE), 2/5
James Spithill (OneWorld Challenge), 2/5
Bertrand Pace (Team New Zealand), 0/7
*Holmberg advances by virtue of beating Radich in Flight
5
GROUP B
Luc Pillot (FRA), 5/2
Andy Green (GBR Challenge), 5/2
Bjorn Hansen (SWE), 5/2
Gavin Brady (Prada Challenge), 4/3*
Jesper Bank (Victory Challenge), 4/3
Peter Gilmour (Oneworld Challenge), 3/4
Dean Barker (Team NZ), 2/5
Chris Dickson (Oracle Racing), 0/7
*Brady advances by virtue of beating Bank in Flight 3.
RESULTS (GROUP B)
Flight 4 : Luc Pillot def. Gavin Brady - Dean Barker def.
Chris Dickson - Bjorn Hansen def. Andy Green - Jesper Bank
def. Peter Gilmour
Flight 5 : Brady def. Green - Bank def. Dickson - Pillot
def. Hansen - Gilmour def. Barker
Flight 6 : Pillot def. Dickson - Bank def. Hansen - Green
def. Gilmour - Brady def. Barker
Flight 7 : Hansen def. Dickson - Gilmour def. Brady - Green
def. Barker - Pillot def. Bank
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| DAY
2
(Source
: sailsail.com)
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Russell Coutts and Jochen Schuemann of the Alinghi Challenge
provided more of the same on the second day of the Swedish
Match Cup, the eighth and final event of Swedish Match Tour
Year 2. The two Swiss syndicate skippers finished the event's
first round robin tied for first place with identical records
of six wins and one loss.
Coutts was flawless on the day. He dispatched of OneWorld
Challenge's James Spithill, Denmark's Jesper Radich and
Swedish Match Tour Year 2 Champion Magnus Holmberg of Team
StoraEnso en route to a three-win afternoon.
Tied with Coutts and Schuemann at six wins was Denmark's
Jes Gram-Hansen who after losing his first match of the
regatta on Tuesday to Coutts rattled off six straight wins,
including handing Schuemann his only loss of the round this
afternoon, to claim his place atop the leaderboard.
"It's great being a bunch of amateur guys and having a chance
to race against these America's Cup teams. It's a great
experience for us and will make us better sailors in the
long run," said Gram-Hansen.
Holmberg advanced, despite a less than stellar match record
of three wins and four losses, by virtue of a countback
over Jesper Radich. "We had a very nervous day today," said
Holmberg. "We made it very tough for ourselves. I need to
thank our Danish friend (Jesper Radich) for paving the way
for us (by defeating James Spithill to unclog the leaderboard)."
In Group B action Andy Green of the GBR Challenge and Sweden's
own Bjorn Hansen jumped out to the early lead by posting
identical 3-0 records. Green sailed well throughout the
three flights and adeptly found good wind on a morning that
was marked by light conditions. Gavin Brady of Prada stands
one off the pace with two wins after dropping his first
race of the day to Hansen. Defending Swedish Match Cup champion
Dean Barker of Team New Zealand and five-time event champ
Peter Gilmour of Team Pizza La and the OneWorld Racing Challenge
are tied at 1-2 with Luc Pillot of France. Rounding out
Group B is Chris Dickson of Oracle Racing who was winless
on the day.
Leaderboard (Skipper / Wins / Losses)
GROUP A
Jochen Schuemann (Alinghi Challenge), 6/1
Russell Coutts (Alinghi Challenge), 6/1
Jes Gram-Hansen (DEN), 6/1
Magnus Holmberg (Victory Challenge), 3/4*
Jesper Radich (DEN), 3/4
Johnie Berndtsson (SWE), 2/5
James Spithill (OneWorld Challenge), 2/5
Bertrand Pace (Team New Zealand), 0/7
*Holmberg advances by virtue of beating Radich in Flight
5
GROUP B
Andy Green (GBR Challenge), 3/0
Bjorn Hansen (SWE), 3/0
Gavin Brady (Prada Challenge), 2/1
Jesper Bank (Victory Challenge), 1/2
Dean Barker (Team NZ), 1/2
Peter Gilmour (OneWorld Challenge), 1/2
Luc Pillot (FRA), 1/2
Chris Dickson (Oracle Racing), 0/3
RESULTS
GROUP A
Flight 5 : Coutts def. Spithill - Shuemann def. Berndtsson
- Gram-Hansen def. Pace - Holmberg def. Radich
Flight 6 : Berndtsson def. Pace - Gram-Hansen def. Schuemann
- Spithill def. Holmberg - Coutts def. Radich
Flight 7 : Gram-Hansen def. Berndtsson - Coutts def. Holmberg
- Radich def. Spithill - Schuemann def. Pace
GROUP B
Flight 1 : Bank def. Barker - Green def. Pillot - Gilmour
def. Dickson - Hansen def. Brady
Flight 2 : Green def. Bank - Hansen def. Gilmour - Barker
def. Pillot - Brady def. Dickson
Flight 3 : Pillot def. Gilmour - Hansen def. Barker - Brady
def. Bank - Green def. Dickson
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| DAY
1
(Source
: sports.com)
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From amidst a glittering line-up of America's Cup skippers
Jochen Schuemann of Switzerland's Alinghi Challenge posted
an undefeated mark of four wins and zero losses on the first
day of the Swedish Match Cup, the eighth and final event
on Swedish Match Tour Year 2.
One win off the pace was Schuemann's boss, Russell Coutts
who dropped his only race of the day to his teammate. Coutts
has a new crew member for the regatta, none other than Alinghi
Challenge head Ernesto Bertarelli. Bertarelli's on-board
presence has shifted Coutts' longstanding partner-in-crime/tactician
Brad Butterworth to Schuemann's crew. Bertarelli's involvement
is no lark. He has proven himself an extremely competent
sailor with years of experience on the lakes of Switzerland
Coutts was pleased with his day but alluded that even better
results were to come. "It's been eight months since we've
done a match race event (the Colorcraft Gold Cup in Bermuda
which Coutts won for a sixth time last October). We're looking
forward to a good week and improving each day."
In other action, Dane Jes Gram-Hansen finished the day at
three wins, dropping his only match to Coutts. Swedish Match
Tour Year 2 Champion Magnus Holmberg of Sweden ended the
day even at two wins against two losses and stands in the
middle of the pack.
The biggest surprise of the day was the sub-par performance
of Team New Zealand's Bertand Pace who was outsailed through
the afternoon's action and ended the day at 0-4. Adding
to the surprise is the fact that Pace is no stranger to
the Swedish coastline, having won this regatta in 1996 and
finishing as runner-up last year.
Winds were light and shifty for most of the day with occasional
gusts of ten to twelve knots, and the sun shone out of the
cloudless sky, which bought out another large crowd of spectators
which have become synonymous with the event.
Leaderboard (Skipper / Wins / Losses)
Jochen Schuemann (Alinghi Challenge) 4 0
Russell Coutts (Alinghi Challenge) 3 1
Jes Gram-Hansen (DEN) 3 1
Magnus Holmberg (Victory Challenge) 2 2
Jesper Radich (DEN) 2 2
Johnie Berndtsson (SWE) 1 3
James Spithill (OneWorld Challenge) 1 3
Bertrand Pace (Team New Zealand) 0 4
Results
Flight 1 : Jochen Schuman def. Jesper Radich - James Spithill
def. Bertrand Pace - Magnus Holmberg def. Johnie Berndtsson
- Russell Coutts def. Jes Gram-Hansen
Flight 2 : Schuman def. Spithill - Gram-Hansen def. Holmberg
- Radich def. Pace - Coutts def. Berndtsson
Flight 3 : Holmberg def. Pace - Gram-Hansen def. Radich
- Schuemann def. Coutts - Berndtsson def. Spithill
Flight 4 : Coutts def. Pace - Radich def. Berndtsson - Gram-Hansen
def. Spithill - Schuemann def. Holmberg
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| PREVIEW
(Source
: sports.com)
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At the Swedish Match Tour's Championship Final, the
Swedish Match Cup, in Marstrand, Sweden, just south of Gothenberg,
sixteen of the world's top skippers representing seven America's
Cup syndicates will do battle off Sweden's craggy coast
from July 2-8.
With the Swedish Match Cup occurring at the midway point
between the conclusion of the 2000 America's Cup and the
start of the 2002 Louis Vuitton Challenger Series, the event's
results will serve as a mid-term report card for the highly-financed
and increasingly competitive America's Cup teams in attendance.
Attesting to this point, four of the leading syndicates
are sending two match racing teams into competition.
Joining defending Swedish Match Cup champion Dean Barker,
of America's Cup holder Team New Zealand, is his finals
opponent from a year ago and new teammate for the Kiwi defense,
Bertrand Pacé.
Regardless of the event's result, Pace will be passing the
torch from his Swedish Match Tour Year 1 Championship to
the new Swedish Match Tour Year 2 Champion Magnus Holmberg
of Team Stora Enso and the Swedish Victory Challenge syndicate.
Although Holmberg has clinched the Swedish Match Tour Year
Two championship he is hungry for more and would like nothing
more than to cap his year by winning his hometown regatta.
Holmberg will see many familiar faces on his home waters
including, for the first time since joining the Victory
Challenge, teammate Jesper Bank of Denmark, who will be
helming an entry of his own in the regatta.
Also with two entries in the event are Craig McCaw's Seattle-based
OneWorld Challenge and Ernesto Bertarelli's Swiss Challenge.
The OneWorld Challenge will send five-time Swedish Match
Cup champion Peter Gilmour and his Team Pizza La match race
crew as well as young Aussie James Spithill and his team
to the shores of the Swedish resort island.
The Swiss Challenge counters with Kiwi ex-patriot Russell
Coutts who won the only other event he contested on the
Swedish Match Tour, the Colorcraft Gold Cup, last October
in Bermuda, and Jochen Schumann who finished second at the
recent Match Race Lake Constance in Langenargen, Germany.
Other America's Cup skippers and teams competing in Marstrand
include Gavin Brady of the Prada Challenge who is currently
in third place in the Swedish Match Tour Championship standings
following runner-up finishes at the Steinlager Line 7 Cup,
Sun Microsystems Australia Cup and ACI Ronhill Cup, as well
as Chris Dickson of the Oracle Racing Team who sits in sixth
place overall, and Andy Green of the GBR Challenge.
Also competing at the Swedish Match Cup are Luc Pillot of
France, ranked fourth in the world by ISAF, Danes Jesper
Radich and Jes Gram-Hansen, ranked sixth and tenth respectively,
12th ranked Bjorn Hansen of Sweden and 23rd ranked Johnie
Berntsson of Sweden.
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