Match Cup Sweden (previously Swedish Match Cup, Stena Match Cup Sweden) is a sailing event on the World Match Racing Tour held in Marstrand, Sweden in the beginning of July every year. Organizers of Match Cup Sweden are The Royal Gothenburg Yacht Club and Brandspot.
The tournament consists of an open class and a women's class, both of which compete in match race sailing. It is one of the pivotal events on the World Match Racing Tour, being among the longest running events on the tour. The event has attracted well over 100.000 spectators WMRT.com, Event information. on an annual basis.
History The first edition of Match Cup Sweden was held in 1994, then as Swedish Match Cup. The initiator of the event was Swedish sailing legend Magnus Holmberg,A Perfect Match, written by Joakim Hermansson, p. 26-29. who with the help from The Royal Gothenburg Yacht Club and Swedish Match arranged the first event in Marstrand, Sweden.
Between 1994 and 2002 the tournament used the DS 37 Matchracer boat, until the introduction of the Swedish Match 40 in 2003. The new boat was designed by another sailing legend, Pelle Petterson, specifically for the Swedish Match Tour, which was the equivalent of today's World Match Racing Tour.
Due to a change of the Swedish legislation prior to the 2006 event, Swedish Match, being a tobacco company, were prohibited of sponsoring the event. Losing its title sponsor, the 2006 event had to be cancelled, only to return in 2007 under the new name ’’’Match Cup Sweden’’’. The organizers then decided to go back to the original DS 37 Matchracer boats.
Hall of Fame For the 15th edition of Match Cup Sweden in 2009, the organizers set up a Hall of Fame. Two inductees were elected for the opening of the Hall of Fame; Magnus Holmberg and Peter Gilmour.
Results
Open class YearChampionRunner-upThird placeFourth place1994 Peter Gilmour Ed Baird Magnus Holmberg Russell Coutts1995 Peter Gilmour Ed Baird Bertrand Pacé Magnus Holmberg1996 Bertrand Pacé Russell Coutts Peter Gilmour Ed Baird1997 Peter Gilmour Ed Baird Jesper Bank Magnus Holmberg1998 Peter Gilmour Sten Mohr Dean Barker Bertrand Pacé1999 Peter Gilmour Ed Baird Tomislav Basic Magnus Holmberg2000 Dean Barker Bertrand Pacé Sten Mohr Magnus Holmberg2001 Russell Coutts Luc Pillot Magnus Holmberg Björn Hansen2002 Dean Barker Russell Coutts Ed Baird Bertrand Pacé2003 Chris Law Karol Jabłoński Peter Holmberg Jesper Bank2004 Russell Coutts Peter Gilmour Magnus Holmberg Chris Law2005 Peter Gilmour Magnus Holmberg Dean Barker Peter Holmberg2006 no races2007 Björn Hansen Magnus Holmberg Jesper Radich Mattias Rahm2008 Mattias Rahm Torvar Mirsky Magnus Holmberg Mathieu Richard2009 Peter Gilmour Mathieu Richard Sebastien Col Damien Iehl2010 Ben Ainslie Jesper Radich Magnus Holmberg Torvar Mirsky2011 Ian Williams Björn Hansen Jesper Radich Peter Gilmour2012 Björn Hansen Peter Gilmour Ian Williams Phil Robertson2013 Björn Hansen Phil Robertson Simone Ferrarese Keith Swinton2014 Björn Hansen Ian Williams Taylor Canfield Francesco Bruni2015 Björn Hansen Ian Williams Keith Swinton Taylor Canfield
Women’s class YearChampionRunner-upThird placeFourth place1999 Dorte O. Jensen Christine Briand Betsy Alison Marie Björling2000 Dorte O. Jensen Betsy Alison Malin Källström Marie Björling2001 Dorte O. Jensen Malin Källström Malin Millbourn Sharon Ferris2002 Marie Björling Dorte O. Jensen Malin Millbourn Betsy Alison2003 Marie Björling Malin Källström Annette Ström Malin Millbourn2004 Marie Björling Lotte Meldgaard Pedersen Claire Leroy Betsy Alison2005 Malin Millbourn Marie Björling Claire Leroy Linda Rahm2006 no races2007 no women's class2008 Claire Leroy Anna Kjellberg Linda Rahm Jenny Axhede2009 Katie Spithill Anna Kjellberg Linda Rahm Lucy MacGregor2010 Ekaterina Skudina Renee Groeneveld Lucy MacGregor Katie Spithill2011 Claire Leroy 2012 no women's class2013 Stephanie Roble 2014 no women's class2015 no women's class
External links Stena Match Cup Sweden website
References