Johnie Berntsson (born 11 August 1972) began sailing at the age of nine in an Optimist dinghy before moving into keelboats at the age of 12. Starting out racing locally on Sweden’s west coast, he gradually expanded his racing internationally across Europe and eventually onto the world match racing circuit.

Berntsson entered match racing in 1997 and has since competed at the highest international level for nearly three decades. Among his major victories are the European Match Racing Championship (2009), the Congressional Cup (2009) and the Scandinavian Match Racing Championship (2008).

He has developed a particularly remarkable record at the Bermuda Gold Cup, winning the prestigious King Edward VII Gold Cup five times – 2008, 2014, 2023, 2024 and 2025. His 2025 victory made him the first skipper in the modern era of the event to win the Gold Cup three consecutive years, completing the hat-trick with a 3–0 victory over Ian Williams in the final.

In Sweden, Berntsson won the Swedish Match Racing Championship in 2022 and, in 2025, became Swedish IOD Champion. That victory qualified his team for Seglingens Mästare, Sweden’s annual “Champion of Champions” regatta, where they went on to win the overall title against the Swedish national champions from across the country’s sailing classes.

In 2011, the Swedish Sailing Federation named Berntsson and his team “Swedish Sailors of the Year.”

Today, Berntsson continues to compete internationally with Berntsson Racing Team, together with long-time team members Björn Lundgren, Herman Andersson and Oscar Angervall and some other guys joing partly.