Marstrand, Sweden (5 July 2025) – Denmark’s Jeppe Borch/ Borch Match Race Team, and France’s Pauline Courtois/ Match in Pink by Normandy have been crowned the new champions of Marstrand in a day of fierce weather for the final of the 2025 GKSS Match Cup Sweden and Nordea Women’s Trophy in Marstrand. It is the first time the Match Cup Sweden title has been won by a Danish Skipper in the thirty-one-year history of the event, and only the second time a French skipper has won the Women’s Trophy since Claire Leroy’s victory in 2008.
As the semi-finalists of both the open and women classes set out to complete their final matches earlier in the day, Sweden’s Anna Östling was the clear favourite to defend her Wings Sailing team’s Women’s Trophy title for the seventh time. But it was the Dutch team Out of the Box led by skipper Julia Aartsen and crew Iris van Gerrevink, Eva Asbeek Brusse, Nerine and Ismene Usman who managed to topple the Swedish champions in a gritty five-match semi-final as they won the deciding race to win the match 3-2 and advance to the final against France’s Pauline Courtois.
In the first-to-two-point final, however, Aartsen and crew knew they were going to have their work cut out going up against defending women’s match racing world champions Match in Pink by Normandy Elite skippered by Pauline Courtois. With a building breeze and surprise squalls on the Marstrand fjord, Aartsen’s crew mustered all their efforts against the French team but were unable to get ahead and Courtois’s team won both matches to clinch the title 2-0.
Up next in the Open Class, the 27-year-old Dane Jeppe Borch and team had their toughest challenge of the event, first to beat match racing veteran Johnie Berntsson from Sweden in the semi-finals and then take out the seven-time Marstrand champion Björn Hansen.
Trailing 1-2 in their semi-final match, Borch and team were on the ropes but pushed hard to win two straight races and send Berntsson out of the competition with a 3-2 defeat.
Energised by their semi-final win, the Danes were ready for Hansen in the final and were not going to let the opportunity go. In the short first-to-two points final, the Danes proved faster around the course and, after Hansen incurred a penalty for a course restriction, the Danes pounced at their chance, winning both races 2-0 for the Marstrand title.
“What an amazing day!” said a jubilant Borch “We have been here four times and to win this iconic event is incredible. I am so proud of the team and for me personally, to come back after months of injury and to win is just awesome.”
“Jeppe and his team sailed very fast against us today” added Sweden’s Hansen. “I said many years ago when Jeppe started sailing on the World Match Racing Tour that he would be one to watch, and he has shown today what he and his team are capable of, there will be more to come from this, I’m sure.”
Final Placings
GKSS Match Cup Sweden
- Jeppe Borch, DEN
- Björn Hansen, SWE
- Oscar Engström, SWE
- Johnie Berntsson, SWE
Nordea Women’s Trophy
- Pauline Courtois, FRA
- Julia Aartsen, NED
- Anna Östling, SWE
- Martina Carlsson, SWE
For full results, follow
GKSS Match Cup Sweden https://wmrt.com/live-results/
Nordea Women’s Trophy https://womenswmrt.com/live-results/
ABOUT WORLD MATCH RACING TOUR
Founded in 2000, the World Match Racing Tour (WMRT) promotes the sport of match racing around the world and is the longest running global professional series in the sport of sailing. The WMRT is awarded ‘Special Event’ status by the sport’s world governing body –World Sailing – and the winner of the WMRT each year is crowned World Sailing Match Racing World Champion. Since 2000, the World Match Racing Tour and its events have awarded over USD24million in prize money to sailors which has helped to contribute to the career pathway of many of today’s professional sailors. www.wmrt.com
ABOUT WOMEN’S WORLD MATCH RACING TOUR
The Women’s World Match Racing Tour was launched in 2022 to continue the hugely successful legacy of the WIM Series (Women’s International Match Racing Series) providing a global match racing series for female sailors. The name of the series was re-launched as the Women’s World Match Racing Tour with its continued mission to expand and strengthen global match racing and promote opportunities for competitive women’s sailing at every level. The Women’s World Match Racing Tour is the world’s first and only professional sailing series for women providing a valuable pathway for aspiring female world champions in the sport of sailing. womenswmrt.com