(Hamilton, Bermuda, 25 October 2025) There were shocks, titanic tussles and some last-match deciders as the Bermuda Gold Cup and Aspen’s Women’s Match Racing Regatta finalists were decided. The battle for the King Edward VII trophy will feature two champions going head-to-head in Hamilton Harbour, with eight-times world match racing champion Ian Williams/GBR attempting to stop Johnie Berntsson/SWE from winning the regatta for the third straight year and fifth overall. But there was a shock in the women’s semi-finals as Lea Vogelius/DEN swept world No 1 Pauline Courtois/FRA 3-0 to book her spot in the final against Anna Östling, who survived a huge battle to beat USA’s Nicole Breault/USA 3-2.
Berntsson had to fight back after losing the first flight to Eric Monnin, who managed to prevail in the opener despite picking up a penalty, but the ruler of the waves in Bermuda took the next three to be the first of the Gold Cup semi-finalists returning to dock.
With the semi-final victory adding to his air of invincibility in Bermuda, some may make him favourite to beat Williams but Berntsson is not taking his opponent lightly. “As for being favourites, that’s for others to judge,” Berntsson said. “We were beaten in the first race today but we are never unbeatable. But with how the boys are trimming the boat and calling the tactics, I feel we are really strong when we have the opportunities. I try to give them the best chance to let the boat go fast and if we can continue to work well as a team together, Ian will have to be really good to beat us.“
Williams went into his semi-final against USA’s Chris Poole saying he needed to eliminate the small mistakes to win, yet he managed to make a huge one and still come out on top.
Leading 2-1, Williams was well ahead of Poole but rounded the wrong top mark causing him to lose the race and take the match to a decider.
“It was a tight semi-final all the way through but we felt we were sailing strong” said Williams. “We were ahead going to the top mark and went around it, but we then saw Chris going to the other mark. At that point we realised we had missed the signal to change marks, which was incredibly frustrating especially at this stage of the regatta, but we brushed it off and came back really strong in the last race.“
Before the start of the women’s event all the predictions were for another final between Östling and Courtois, but Vogelius had other ideas and needed just three races to eliminate the world No 1.
While Courtois and another member of her crew had mobility issues after falling off a scooter in heavy rain on Friday morning, Östling would be wise not to underestimate Vogelius, who has improved steadily as the week has gone on. “We found the best game that we’ve had all week,” Vogelius said. “ We had an advantage in the starts, the shifts were easier to find and that was what made the difference. We are super happy to be in the final.”
After finishing top of the leaderboard in the round-robin stage, Östling earned the right to pick her semi-final opponent but she was given all she could handle by Breault, who twice held the lead in the course of the match.
“It was clearly a tough battle as we were behind twice but it was so much fun,” she said. “But we never gave up and we are so happy for this win. To win this event would mean everything and I have had a really good feeling for the whole week. I’m going to think about all the positive things, embrace them and go for it tomorrow.”
The Bermuda Gold Cup and Aspen Bermuda Women’s Match Race runs through to Sunday 26 October. Follow live results at https://wmrt.com/live-results/ and for the Aspen Bermuda Women’s Match Race at https://womenswmrt.com/live-results/
