October 26, 2025
2 minutes reading time
WMRT: Championship titles on the line at Bermuda Gold Cup
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.
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.
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.
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.
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/
Text and images courtesy of WMRT.com. Read more here.