Anna Östling: “We love to sail, love to compete and love to win!”
Anna Östling and her Team Wings are the second highest ranked team on the international match racing ranking. The Swedish home team are one of the favourites to win the World Championship in match racing in Lysekil next week. ”It will definitely be one of the biggest competitions for us in the team so far”, says Anna Östling.
Lysekil Women’s Match is the official Women’s Match Racing World Championship of 2019. Anna Östling has been a leading profile in the sport for over a decade, sailing the Olympics in 2012 and winning the World Championship title in both 2014 and 2016. To win another gold in the home event in Lysekil would be a true career highlight.
”It has been our goal since it became official last year that the World Championship would be sailed in Lysekil. We have done a lot of sailing this year and the focus has always been on sailing as well as possible next week”, says Anna Östling.
The first World Championship gold was won in Cork, Ireland in 2014 and two years later, the feat was repeated on Lake Michigan. This summer they have sailed the Midsummer Match Cup in Skärhamn, won the GKSS Match Cup Sweden at Marstrand and warmed up ahead of Lysekil with a competition in France in the end of July. The team has consistently been ranked as one of the best in the world the last decade but Anna Östling wants to tone down herself as a favourite.
”We always want to be at the top of the podium but we feel that many teams want exactly the same thing and the competition will be really tough. The regatta in France became an eye opener for us because and we discovered that we have troubles with certain parts of the sailing after having focused harder on other parts of our crew work”.
Specifically, the team has trained a lot on sailing with gennaker to be prepared for sailing the Fareast 28 used in Lysekil. Now they are looking forward to starting the regatta and they know they will have reach their maximum level from the start.
”To get all the way to the final, you will need determination and quick thinking in all situations when the competition is this good. But we feel confident and we have been in similar situations before where there is a lot at stake”, says Anna Östling, stressing that the winning recipe is about feeling the joy on board.
”We feel no pressure but think more about enjoying each race and just go out to sea and give it our best. We love to sail, we love to compete and we love to win!”
Skipper line-up for the Women’s Match Racing World Championship 2019
(Skipper, ranking, nationality)
Pauline Courtois, 1, (FRA)
Trine Palludan, 2, (DEN)
Anna Östling, 3, (SWE)
Johanna Bergqvist, 4, (SWE)
Marinella Laaksonen, 5, (FIN)
Nicole Breault, 6, (USA)
Margot Vennin, 7, (FRA)
Alexa Bezel, 8, (SUI)
Lucy Macgregor, 10, (GBR) – Defending World Champion
Renée Groeneveld, 13, (NED)
Claire Leroy, 15, (FRA)
Marie Björling, 36, (SWE)
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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 (WIMRA) 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.
The WIM Series is hosted by WIMRA. Official suppliers are Sailnet, SEBAGO, Beckman Media, FREDAG, Klockworks and Match Racing Results Service.
For more information on the 2019 WIM Series, visit www.wimseries.com or follow us on social media:
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Images: A number of hi-res images are available for download on www.wimseries.com/media/
More information about the Women¹s International Match Racing Series:
WIM Series Press Officer Fabian Bengtsson, media@wimseries.com
WIM Series Director Anna Holmdahl White, anna@wimseries.com
WIM Series Race Manager Liz Baylis, liz@wimseries.com
