Macao, China (28 March 2026) – Drama and upsets took centre stage on the penultimate day of the 2026 Macao Match Cup as two French favorites were knocked out and Denmark’s Jeppe Borch raced into a commanding semi-final lead.
After dominating the qualifying round-robin, French skippers Aurélien Pierroz and Ian Garreta both fell at the quarter-final hurdle. Pierroz was stunned 1–3 by 20‑year‑old American Christian Prendergast – the Chicago skipper backed by an all‑star crew of Sam Gilmour, Graeme Spence and Connor Mashlan – while Garreta went down 1–3 to Sweden’s Oscar Engström. Prendergast went on to face Engström in a high-stakes semi-final clash.
Another surprise saw Sweden’s Johnie Berntsson, who scraped through qualifying in seventh, find top form when it mattered. Berntsson’s newly assembled crew, Johan Bäckström, Wilhelm Eriksson and Olof Lundgren, produced a clinical 3–0 quarter-final win over New Zealand’s Nick Egnot‑Johnson to reach the semis.
In the first semi-final, Denmark’s Jeppe Borch. sailing with Thor Malthe Andersen, Sebastian Wright Olsen and Matias Rossing, pressed hard from the start and closed the day with a confident 2–0 lead over Berntsson. Borch’s experience in Far East 28 boats (he won Match Cup Sweden event in Marstrand last summer) showed in their slick boat handling.
The other semi-final has become a see‑saw battle. Sweden’s Oscar Engström (Liros Team: Filip Karlsson, Rasmus Alnebeck, Emil Wolfgang) also used his Far East 28 experience to take the opening race, but Prendergast fought back to level the match. Engström finished the day 2–1 and holds match point heading into the final day.
Racing resumes at 10:00 a.m. local time tomorrow to decide the 2026 Macao Match Cup champion and the USD 30,000 winner’s cheque from the USD 100,000prize pool. With form shaken up and momentum swinging, the final day promises plenty of world class match racing.
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