– gold to Meldgaard and silver to Ulrikkeholm, with Roble 3rd
The Danish dynamite exploded completely when the 2015 ISAF Women’s Match Racing World Championship, the first event on the 2015 WIM Series, concluded Sunday in Middelfart. The all-Danish final, comprising Lotte Meldgaard and Camilla Ulrikkeholm, went to five stunning matches, with absolutely amazing action all the way to the last and very close finish fight. Now Lotte Meldgaard is the new World Champion:
“I’m so happy, this was about time” she shines, explaining that she’s raced in almost all the championships since 2000, until today having achieved all medals but the golden one around her neck.
The cheering crowds on the harbour pier of Middelfart got a show they’ll never forget, when the two Danish crews in the final clashed almost within the reach of the many spectators. In the first match Ulrikkeholm led the whole race, but at the end forgot to properly cover Meldgaard, who immediately took the opportunity and won by just a few metres. In the next race Meldgaard led all the way and finished first again, gaining three “match points”. Ulrikkeholm saved the first one by passing Meldgaard just before the finish of match 3.
In the 4th match Meldgaard was given a penalty after a windward – leeward situation in the pre-start, went out on the course leading and was able to offset the penalty on the last downwind leg, but lost the lead in the process. Ulrikkeholm won, resulting in a 5th and finally deciding match. In the last match Ulrikkeholm got a red flag penalty for tacking too close to Meldgaard at the pin end of the starting line, just before the starting signal. As she had to do her penalty turn immediately, Meldgaard grasped the opportunity to gain a substantial lead.
Still Ulrikkeholm managed to close the gap at the finish, where Meldgaard fought hard to keep her narrow lead. With less than a boat length the latter sailed in as the winner of the 2015 ISAF Women’s Match Racing World Championship:
“The whole day was very challenging, but we had good speed and read the course quite well. Of course it became intense, and we got a bit stressed, but all in all I think we kept our heads clear” Meldgaard comments.
“Of course we’re really sad and disappointed now. It was tough being down 0 – 2, but we managed to recover from that, and we think we sailed very well. Except when giving the first match away by not covering her properly,” Ulrikkeholm says, not very happy for her third consecutive silver medal.
Looking back a the day it all started with the morning briefing, when Anne-Claire Le Berre picked Lotte Meldgaard as her semi final opponent, leaving Camilla Ulrikkeholm and Stephanie Roble to race each other. Le Berre may have regret that choice when she was beat by Meldgaard in three straight semi final matches, while the other semi final ended 3 – 1 in favour of Ulrikkeholm.
Sailing for bronze place in the petit final, Stephanie Roble took the start in the first match and then stretched her lead over Le Berre all the way around the course, to finish with a quite comfortable victory. In the second prestart Le Berre was penalized for not keeping clear in a port – starboard situation, yet managed to get away well ahead of the American. Le Berre kept her lead until the last downwind, when she decided the lead wasn’t big enough to do her penalty turn. The French skipper waited for Roble, forced her past the finish line, and was very close to being able to take her penalty and finish first, but Roble sneaked in between to secure the bronze medal:
“We were very disappointed not to make the final, but then recharged to get on the podium. We had great pre-starts and carried the momentum throughout our races, thanks to my awesome crew” Roble comments.
“Today we didn’t perform well at all. Our opponents simply sailed a lot better than we did. But we’ll bring with us the feeling to the next WIM Series event in Lysekil, that we can for sure challenge the Scandinavians in bigger boats like these,” Le Berre concludes.
Final results in the 2015 ISAF Women’s Match Racing World Championship in Middelfart, Denmark, the first event on the 2015 WIM Series:
Lotte Meldgaard, DEN – Camilla Ulrikkeholm, DEN 3 – 2
Petit final results:
Stephanie Roble, USA – Anne-Claire Le Berre, FRA 2 – 0
Semi final results:
Lotte Meldgaard, DEN – Anne-Claire Le Berre, FRA 3 – 0
Camilla Ulrikkeholm, DEN – Stephanie Roble, USA 3 – 1
Total results and standings in the 2015 WIM Series after the first event out of four (skipper, nationality, WIM Series points):
1. Lotte Meldgaard, DEN, 25
2. Camilla Ulrikkeholm, DEN, 22
3. Stephanie Roble, USA, 20
4. Anne-Claire Le Berre, FRA, 16
5. Anna Östling, SWE, 15
6. Katie Spithill, AUS, 14
7. Caroline Sylvan, SWE, 13
8. Klaartje Zuiderbaan, NED, 12
9. Milly Bennett, AUS, 10
10. Pauline Courtois, FRA, 8
11. Louise Christensen, DEN, 6
12. Diana Kissane, IRL, 4
13. Rikst Dijkstra, NED, –
14. Johanna Larsson, SWE, –
15. Nina Ramm-Schmidt, FIN, –
16. Sanna Häger, SWE, –
2015 WIM Series events (date, event name, venue):
* July 8 – 12, ISAF Women’s Match Racing World Championship, Middelfart, Denmark.
* August 3 – 8, Lysekil Women’s Match, Lysekil, Sweden.
* September 16 – 20, Buddy Melges Challenge, Sheboygan, USA.
* October 28 – November 1, Busan Cup Women’s International Match Race, Busan, Korea.
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Links:
Results
www.wimseries.com/results/2015-isaf-womens-match-racing-world-championship-results/
Event Website
www.worlds15.dk/
History
www.sailing.org/events/womensmatchworlds/18952.php
Past Results
www.sailing.org/events/womensmatchworlds/past_results.php
WIM Series Website
www.wimseries.com
July 8 - 12, 2015, the 2015 ISAF Women’s Match Racing World Championship is taking place in Middelfart, Denmark, hosted by Match Racing Denmark on behalf of the sailing clubs in Middelfart, Vejle, Fredericia, Horsens and Kolding. The championship is launched in cooperation with the Danish Sailing Association, ISAF (the International Sailing Federation), WIM Series (Women’s International Match Racing Series) and not least Middelfart Municipality, Developing Fyn, Sport Event Denmark, The Triangle Region and Destination Little Belt.
The ISAF Women’s Match Racing World Championship is an annual event that was first held in Genoa, Italy in 1999 after a successful event was held as part of the 1998 ISAF Sailing World Championship in Dubai, UAE. Skippers are invited to attend the Championship based on their ISAF World Match Racing Ranking position. Denmark’s Dorte Jensen is the most successful sailor having amassed four World Championship titles.
Find out more on the history of the event here
www.sailing.org/events/womensmatchworlds/18952.php
Images/Video
High-resolution rights free images for editorial and personal purposes are available to download here:
sailingpix.photoshelter.com/gallery-collection/ISAF-Womens-Match-Racing-World-Championship-2015/C0000ezZvK4233vQ
Password: Press
Please contact Event Press Officer Ole Wejse Svarrer below for picture/video requests.
About WIM Series
The 2015 WIM Series is hosted by WIMRA for the world’s leading women match racing sailors, and contested in four venues: Middelfart, Denmark; Lysekil, Sweden; Sheboygan, USA and Busan, Korea. An overall prize purse of 40 000 USD will be distributed by the WIM Series at the final event in Busan, Korea, in addition to the prize money at each of the four events included in the WIM Series. Official suppliers are Sailnet, 1080 Media, MILK, Sailing Education Association of Sheboygan, Adstream and Match Racing Results Service.
Images
A number of hi-res images are available for download on www.wimseries.com/media
Contact
Event Press Officer
Ole Wejse Svarrer
Tel: +45 2071 6465
Email: wejse@skriiv.dk
ISAF Communications Department
Tel: + 44 2380 635 111
Email: marketing@isaf.com
WIM Series Press Officer
Joakim Hermansson
Tel: + 46 70 604 25 04
Email: media@wimseries.com
