Quarter-Final Action in Lysekil Women’s Match
- Palludan, Courtois, Groeneveld & Östling move on


World #1 Anna Östling won the Swedish battle against Caroline Sylvan in their Lysekil Women’s Match Quarter-Final. Trine Palludan (DEN), Pauline Courtois (FRA) and Renée Groeneveld (NED) follow Östling to Saturday’s Semi-Final:
“Today we did our job with the right attitude and with really good starts. It was obviously an advantage for us to sail a lot of matches” Östling says, referring to the six repechage matches she had to do, to even get to the Quarters.

On the waters of off Släggö Island in Lysekil, on the beautiful Swedish west coast, the westerly winds and the bright sunshine continued Friday, to offer sailors and spectators excellent conditions. First the crowds on the rocks saw the last four Quarter-Final spots being distributed, and then they were able to follow the exciting Quarter-Final matches. Anna Östling was the first skipper to secure her ticket to the quarters, by beating fellow club member from the Royal Gothenburg Yacht Club, Caroline Sylvan, 3 – 1:
“We had some difficulties in getting up to speed in our boat, and that’s extra tough when our opponent didn’t make any mistakes at all” says a clearly disappointed Sylvan.

The speed was definitely not a problem for Renée Groeneveld, who lost her first Quarter-Final match to Marinella Laaksonen of Finland, but then came back with three straight wins:
“In the first match our gennaker fell into the water and Marinella could slip by, but in the last three matches we got off the starting line very fast and in the desired position. Then we managed to stay ahead all the way round the course” the Dutch skipper comments.

Pauline Courtois also went through to the Semi-Finals with a 3 – 1 score, over Alexa Bezel of Switzerland, and the French skipper is looking forward very much to continue racing on Saturday:
“Today we only made very few mistakes, and we’re going to go on like that all the way through the final” she says with confidence, praising the local conditions.
“It’s a pleasure sailing, and winning, here in Lysekil!”

After her top placement in the round-robin, Trine Palludan of the Royal Danish Yacht Club defeated local hope Johanna Bergqvist 3 – 0 in their Quarter-Final. But despite the score, the Dane didn’t find the matches very easily won:
“No, definitely not, we had to fight hard for it. Johanna put herself in good positions, to put the pressure on us, as soon as we made even the slightest mistakes. We got three good matches, that will help us a lot for tomorrow” Palludan concludes.
Lysekil Women’s Match, the second competition in the Women’s International Match Racing Series (WIM Series), finishes with semifinals and final on Saturday.

Results in the Quarter-Finals of Lysekil Women’s Match:
Trine Palludan, DEN - Johanna Bergqvist, SWE, 3 - 0
Pauline Courtois, FRA - Alexa Bezel, SUI, 3 - 1
Renée Groeneveld, NED - Marinella Laaksonen, FIN, 3 - 1
Caroline Sylvan, SWE - Anna Östling, SWE, 3 - 1

Results in the Repechage Round Robin in Lysekil Women’s Match (skipper, team, nationality, victories - losses):
1. Anna Östling, Team Anna, SWE, 5 - 1
2. Marinella Laaksonen, L2 Match Racing Team, FIN, 4 - 2
3. Johanna Bergqvist, Team Bergqvist Match Racing, SWE, 4 - 2
4. Alexa Bezel, ChicaCER Women Match Racing Team, SUI, 3 - 3

5. Linnéa Floser, Peregrine Racing, SWE, 2 - 4
6. Octavia Owen, Athena Racing, GBR, 2 - 4
7. Antonia Degerlund, Team Sköna Vibbisar, 1 - 5

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The Women’s International Match Racing Series (WIM Series) is the first and only professional sailing series for women, hosted by the Women’s International Match Racing Association and joined by the world’s leading women match racing sailors. Match racing is sailed in two identical boats around a short course, providing fast action close to the crowds on shore. The intense racing is just as exciting for the spectators as it is strategically, tactically and physically challenging for the competing crews.

2017 WIM Series (date, event name, location, boat type):

• 16-21 June – 2017 Women’s Match Racing World Championship – Helsinki, Finland - J/80


• 7-12 August – 2017 Lysekil Women’s Match – Lysekil, Sweden – Fareast 28


• 13-18 November – 2017 Busan Cup Women’s International Match Race – Busan, South Korea - K30


• 30 November – 3 December – 2017 Carlos Aguilar Match Race – St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands - IC 24

The WIM Series is hosted by WIMRA. Official suppliers are Sailnet, Sebago, MILK, Adstream, Intertidal Ventures, Fredag and Match Racing Results Service.

Images: A number of hi-res images are available for download on www.wimseries.com/media/
Video: All videos are available on www.wimseries.com/videos/

More information about the Women’s International Match Racing Series:
WIM Series Manager Liz Baylis, Liz@wimseries.com, +1 415 691 6202
www.wimseries.com
www.facebook.com/WIMSeries
www.twitter.com/WIMSeries
www.youtube.com/WIMRSeries
www.instagram.com/WIMSeries

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Lysekil Women’s Match was founded in 2004, and is with a prize purse of SEK 300 000 the largest annual match racing event for women in the world. The 2017 Lysekil Women’s Match is sailed August 7 – 12, organized by Sailnet Lysekil AB and Lysekils SS Gullmar. The main sponsor of Lysekil Women’s Match is Preem, with the Lysekil Municipality as the host city. Sebago, Svitzer, Emerson and Kläppen are partners. BMW from Bilia Group is the official car.

A selection of high resolution images from Lysekil Women’s Match is available to download at:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/mwdr5nsj84i1iht/AABUlnrhwzKoMZU55YvbL9vYa?dl=0

More information about the Lysekil Women’s Match:
Press Officer Joakim Hermansson, media@sailnet.se, +46 70 604 25 04
Project Manager Anna Holmdahl White, anna@sailnet.se, +46 73 068 42 92
www.lysekilwomensmatch.se
www.facebook.com/lysekilwomensmatch
www.twitter.com/lwmlysekil
www.youtube.com/lysekilwomensmatch
www.instagram.com/lwmlysekil