Chris Poole and his Riptide Racing crew have reclaimed the GKSS Match Cup Sweden title at Marstrand, with New Zealand's Adam Minoprio among those on board as they defeated local favourite Oscar Engström and Liros Racing 3-1 in the championship final. The victory adds the 2026 crown to the title Poole, Minoprio, Mal Parker and Luke Payne first won together in 2024.
The American team's path to the final was far from smooth. After a modest opening to the regatta, they built momentum through the knockout rounds, eliminating defending 2025 champion Jeppe Borch of Denmark in the quarterfinals before accounting for France's breakout skipper Ange Delerce in the semifinals.
Racing in a fresh 16-knot westerly breeze, with a large crowd lining Marstrand's famous granite shoreline, the final against Engström proved a genuine contest before Poole's crew closed it out.
"It has been an interesting week for us, it didn't start as well as we expected but we fought our way through with a really good fight with Jeppe Borch in the quarterfinals and then Ange Delerce in the semi," said Poole. "Oscar put on a tough match for us in the finals but we are delighted to win again here, and on 4 July, I'm proud to fly the Stars and Stripes with our win."
Engström's runner-up finish is the strongest result of his career at Marstrand. He topped the round robin standings to earn direct passage to the semifinals, then defeated fellow Swede Johnie Berntsson to reach his first Match Cup Sweden final. Berntsson recovered to take third, defeating Delerce's team 2-0 in the petit final.
Delerce was one of the revelations of the week. Competing in Marstrand for the first time, the French skipper reached the semifinals after eliminating seven-time Match Cup Sweden champion Björn Hansen, announcing himself as a genuine rising force on the World Match Racing Tour.
In the Nordea Women's Trophy, Pauline Courtois and her Match in Pink crew of Maëlenn Lemaitre, Laurane Mettraux and Théa Khelif successfully defended the title they won in 2025, beating Sweden's Martina Carlsson and Beyond Racing 3-1. Carlsson had been the dominant performer of the regatta, winning nine consecutive races through the round robin and semifinals without defeat.
Courtois and her long-standing team proved too composed when it mattered. "We are very happy of course to defend our title," she said. "We knew we were sailing against a popular local team and Martina and her team have been sailing very well this week, but we were also fast today and it is great to get the win again."
Third place in the women's event went to former champion Anna Östling and WINGS Sailing, who defeated Denmark's Lea Richter Vogelius and WOW Racing 2-0.
The 32nd edition of the regatta brought another strong week of match racing at Marstrand. The World Match Racing Tour moves next to Pornichet in France at the end of the month, followed by US Grand Slam events in Chicago, Detroit and New York, before returning to Europe for Dublin and Poland in September. The Bermuda Gold Cup follows in October, with the new WMRT Final in AMAALA, Saudi Arabia scheduled for 10-14 November.
