Women's WMRT: chasing the double

Anna Östling and her tenacious WINGS crew today won all of their six races to regain joint lead of the qualifying stage at the KDY Women's Match Race, the final stage of the 2023 Women's World Match Racing Tour, hosted by the Royal Danish Yacht Club.

Östling and crew share the lead with Denmark's Lea Richter Vogelius after completing the first qualifying round robin and starting the second in a light breeze after some rain earlier in the day. Camilla UIrikkeholm dropped a race to Julia Aartsen/ Team Out of the Box from the Netherlands but remains in a strong position to make the final four for the semi-final.

As defending champions of the inaugural event last year, the WINGS crew are on a mission to defend their podium, but also have their sights set on the overall 2023 Women's World Match Racing Tour title. New Zealand's Celia Willison and her EDGE Women's Match team currently lead the tour leader-board but will need to finish ahead of Östling to secure the Tour championship.

"We are focussing hard on winning the event first" added Östling. '"There is tough competition particularly from Camilla [Ulrikkeholm] and Lea [Richter Vogelius] who we have battled many times over the years, and who know the DS37 boats very well. But we know if we can win the event, we will also secure the Tour title, so the pressure is on us for sure."

The top four teams after completing the double round robin will advance to the semi-final, with the remaining four teams in a sail off for 5-8th.

Racing continues Saturday at 1000 with the semi-final and finals scheduled for Sunday.