WMRWC Press Information

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Pressrelease the 30th of June

Simply Fantastic Semis, Petit and Finals in the ISAF Women’s Match Racing World Championship

Another perfect day for sailing, southerly, rather gusty wind 16 – 18 knots and sun. In the semifinals Silja Lehtinen (FIN) had no trouble defeating Claire Leroy (FRA) 3-0. Anna Tunnicliffe (USA) won over Sally Barkow (USA) 3-1 in four very tight and intense matches. The petit final was frightfully exciting; Leroy and Barkow won one match each and then Barkow took the last after tough gybe duels all the way to the finishing line. The final between Lehtinen and Tunnicliffe was absolutely outstanding, so close and intense that every match was only decided by decimeters on the finishing line! This is how Silja answered the question about when they were sure they would win: – When we saw the flag on the starting vessel! The world’s two best women match racers gave a super performance on the waters outside the GKSS Marina in Gothenburg. Silja Lehtinen won the gold medal 3-0 over Anna Tunnicliffe, whom she hadn’t met earlier during the races, as Anna left a WO to Lehtinen yesterday. Silja only lost one match in this championship; against Sally Barkow in the Round Robin Gold. Silja Lehtinen, Silja Kanerva and Mikaela Wulff had one goal for 2012; to be among the best six. Now they are World Champions!

Results: http://www.gkss.se/en/Events/WMRWC/Section/Results/

Photo: Team Lehtinen, World Champions. Photographer: Alf Tornberg

For further information: Press Officer Alf Tornberg alf@alfredmedia.se +46735-450 125

Pressrelease the 29th June

Round Robin Gold

Challenging wind conditions! A strong, gusty southeasterly wind, 18 – 22 knots forced the crews to check for gusts all the time. Which side of the course you chose made or broke you. All the flights were wonderfully tight with lots of tacking and gybing duels.
After lunch the wind increased to 24 knots with gusts around 30. With a southeasterly, coming from land, the sea stays pretty flat, which made for some absolutely breathtaking downwind legs where the Elliots did around 15 knots! Many were close to broaching and some did! The wows and exclamations from the spectators were deafening! The matches were extremely taxing for crews and boats, with a great number of limas hoisted. However, the wind increased further and the races were postponed with three more matches to go. After an hour the three matches were sailed. Due to an injury Anna Tunnicliffe (USA) left WO to Silja Lehtinen (FIN). These four crews have qualified for the semi: Silja Lehtinen (FIN), Anna Tunnicliffe (USA), Sally Barkow (USA) all three 5 wins, Claire Leroy (FRA) 4.
Results other crews: Olivia Price (AUS) 3, Lucy Macgregor (GRB) 3, Ekaterina Skudina (RUS) 2, Renée Groeneveld (NED)1.

Photo: Lehtinen. Photographer:  Alf Tornberg

For further information:

Press Officer Alf Tornberg alf@alfredmedia.se  +46735-450 125

Pressrelease 28th of June

Round Robin Silver, June 28

Another sunny day starting off with a light wind, 6 knots W-SW, that increased slightly to 8-9 knots. The matches were tight in spite of the light wind and at the lunch break, after 4 flights, the wins were evenly distributed. After lunch and boat change there was a slightly stronger wind but before the last and decisive flight the course was changed about 20° southwards with a decreasing wind.  Julie Bossard (FRA) went on to win the Round Robin Silver with 6 wins, only losing one match against the other Frenchwoman Anne-Claire Le Berre, who came second with 5 wins.
  - The first day we lost four matches, and knowing that we wouldn’t qualify we lost heart and didn’t sail well day two either. Today the light winds suited us better and we are really happy with our performance, said Julie Bossard.
  The results for the other crews: Mandy Mulder (NED) 4, Tamara Echegoyen (ESP) 4, Rita Gonçalves (POR) 3, Anna Kjellberg (SWE) 3, Camilla Ulrikkeholm 2, Silke Hahlbrock 1.

Photo: Kjellberg-Bossard. Photographer: Alf Tornberg.

For further information:

Press Officer: Alf Tornberg alf@alfredmedia.se  +46735 450 125

Pressrelease 27th of June

Pressrelease morning 27th of June

Varied Winds and Weird Conditions

A wonderful morning – only not for sailing; sun and no wind. Little by little a southerly light breeze made it possible to start sailing around noon, although a couple of matches had to be cancelled and rerun. In the light breeze every mistake was costly and difficult to repair. That changed with the wind as it veered to the west and came back with around 12knots. The matches then became tighter and more exciting for the many spectators on the GKSS pier.
As Group B finished their Round Robin the following four were qualified for the Round Robin Gold to be sailed on Friday June 29: Silja Lehtinen (FIN), sailing really well, won 7 out of 7, Claire Leroy (FRA) 5 wins, Renée Groeneveld (NED) and Lucy Macgregor (GRB) 4 wins each. The other four crews go on to Round Robin Silver, sailed Thursday June 28.

For further information:
Press Officer Alf Tornberg alf@alfredmedia.se, +46735450125

27th of June

Press release dated 26th of June updated in red.

25th of June 2012

The weather gods seem to be conserving their strength for tomorrow. The driving rain today is to become sunny and there will be northerly to northwesterly winds 8 – 18 knots, which might give us the pre-start pretty much in our laps. That is what we asked for!

Racing schedule tomorrow:
Tuesday 26th June
Round Robin
Flight 1
F1M1 (Round Robin A): Mulder -vs- Barkow
F1M2 (Round Robin A): Le Berre -vs- Price
F1M3 (Round Robin A): Skudina -vs- Bossard
F1M4 (Round Robin A): Tunnicliffe -vs- Kjellberg
Flight 2
F2M1 (Round Robin A): Barkow -vs- Le Berre
F2M2 (Round Robin A): Tunnicliffe -vs- Bossard
F2M3 (Round Robin A): Skudina -vs- Kjellberg
F2M4 (Round Robin A): Mulder -vs- Price
Flight 3
F3M1 (Round Robin A): Tunnicliffe -vs- Mulder
F3M2 (Round Robin A): Kjellberg -vs- Barkow
F3M3 (Round Robin A): Bossard -vs- Price
F3M4 (Round Robin A): Le Berre -vs- Skudina
Flight 4
F4M1 (Round Robin A): Kjellberg -vs- Price
F4M2 (Round Robin A): Mulder -vs- Skudina
F4M3 (Round Robin A): Le Berre -vs- Tunnicliffe
F4M4 (Round Robin A): Bossard -vs- Barkow
Flight 8
F8M1 (Round Robin B): Groeneveld -vs- Lehtinen
F8M2 (Round Robin B): Ulrikkeholm -vs- Echegoyen
F8M3 (Round Robin B): Leroy -vs- Gonçalves
F8M4 (Round Robin B): Macgregor -vs- Hahlbrock
Flight 9
F9M1 (Round Robin B): Lehtinen -vs- Ulrikkeholm
F9M2 (Round Robin B): Macgregor -vs- Gonçalves
F9M3 (Round Robin B): Leroy -vs- Hahlbrock
F9M4 (Round Robin B): Groeneveld -vs- Echegoyen
Flight 10
F10M1 (Round Robin B): Macgregor -vs- Groeneveld
F10M2 (Round Robin B): Hahlbrock -vs- Lehtinen
F10M3 (Round Robin B): Gonçalves -vs- Echegoyen
F10M4 (Round Robin B): Ulrikkeholm -vs- Leroy

ISAF Women´s Match Racing Worl Championship 2012:

http://www.gkss.se/wmrwc

Press release  24th of June 2012

Anna Tunicliffe, USA, with her crew; Molly Vandemoer and Debbie Capozzi are currently reigning world champions and also ranked number one.

Their last triumph is the Women's Match Racing ISAF Sailing World Cup title for the second year running. Now they are coming to the ISAF Women’s Match Racing World Championship in Goteborg to defend their title. Anna says: - We are looking for this World Championship to be one of our top three events this year. It is our last event leading into the Olympic Games, and we are looking to be fine tuning our game on the water. All of our competitors are in their top form and so it is going to be some fantastic racing. We love coming to Sweden, and we know the race organization will be top notch. We are very much looking forward to being there and battling it out with the best in the world! As Anna says, the competition will be tough and everyone who comes to the Royal Gothenburg Yacht Club’s Marina, will see some spectacular racing from the rocks or the grand-stand. Lucy Macgregor and Claire Leroy - second and third on ISAF’s ranking list:

http://www.gkss.se/en/Events/WMRWC/News/Placeholder/Lucy-Macgregor-and-Claire-Leroy/

 ISAF Women´s Match Racing Worl Championship 2012:

http://www.gkss.se/wmrwc

 For further information: Press Officer Alf Tornberg alf@alfredmedia.se, +46735-450 125 

Press release 20th of June 2012

Last Race Before the Olympics Of the 16 crews competing in the WMRWC you will find 10 of the 12 crews to sail in the Olympics:

Anna Tunicliffe (USA) Lucy Macgregor (GBR) Claire Leroy (FRA) Ekaterina Skudina (RUS) Silja Lehtinen (FIN) Tamara Echegoyen (ESP) Olivia Price (AUS) Renee Groeneveld (NED) Rita Gonçalves (POR) Anna Kjellberg (SWE) As the Worlds is their last race before this year’s big event, you can be sure that they will take every opportunity to position themselves for the Olympics. Every chance to show off and intimidate their opponents will be eagerly grabbed. Tactics and technique will be finely honed and keen eyes will be watching for weaknesses in the other teams. The stage is set for an exciting sailing week! The competiters:

http://www.gkss.se/en/Events/WMRWC/News/Placeholder/The-Competitors1/ Sailing format: http://www.gkss.se/en/Events/WMRWC/News/Placeholder/Sailing-Format/

For further information: Press Officer Alf Tornberg alf@alfredmedia.se, +46735-450 125

Press release 120617

Press accreditation for the ISAF Women’s Match Racing World Championship, Gothenburg, Sweden June 26-30 2012

Welcome to cover and report from the races in Gothenburg June 26-30. The Women’s Worlds will be sailed in Elliot boats with a crew of three. All the competitors are highly qualified sailors. The top eight on the world ranking list will be there. The Worlds is the last big event before the Olympics in London, where some of the participants in the Worlds are expected to take medals. A total of 16 crews from 12 countries take part. See the list of participants at http://www.gkss.se/en/Events/WMRWC/Section/Competitors/ In Långedrag, Gothenburg it will be possible to view the racing at close quarters on shore. There are also press boats from which to follow the event. At the Press Office in the event area we will give media service. In the accreditation form, at http://www.gkss.se/en/Events/WMRWC/Section/Pressinfo/  you can prebook a place in a press boat and also state special requirements.

The program is to be found at http://www.gkss.se/en/Events/WMRWC/Section/Program/

Event photographer: Dan Ljungsvik. It will be possible to send high resolution pictures to your editorial office.

For further information: Press Officer Alf Tornberg, alf@alfredmedia.se , 0735-450 125.