Shenzhen, China (December 12, 2024) – The top four teams have been confirmed for the Quarter Finals after the third day of the 2024 World Match Racing Tour Final. France’s Ian Garreta emerging as the top seed, tying with Sweden’s Johnie Berntsson and Switzerland’s Eric Monnin at 8-3. Garreta defeated Berntsson and Monnin in their respective matches, while Chris Poole (USA) is fourth at 7-4.
The event marks 23 year old Garreta’s first appearance in a World Match Racing Tour Final. Reflecting on his performance, Garreta commented, “We were happy with the round robin yesterday, so going into today, we felt the pressure to finish in the top four and qualify for quarters. Now that we are here, the pressure is off, and everything from here is a bonus.”
Racing conditions in Shenzhen continued to challenge teams with shifty northerly breezes that arrived in the morning and allowed racing to start on time. The variable conditions ensured that no lead was safe, as trailing boats frequently found opportunities to come back. Maneuvering and tactical calls on the shifts proved critical for success.
Berntsson also expressed satisfaction with his team’s performance. “I am happy about how the team is working together to improve all the time, even though it’s very hard to understand the conditions here. But we are fast, and that is certainly helping.”
For Monnin, his goal this season was to succeed in the quarter-finals.
“Last season we failed at every single quarter-finals. This year, we have advanced in the quarter-finals, so now we are at the same stage. We know it’s difficult sailing, and we know there is a lot of stake in this quarter-finals. First, we have to see who qualifies from the repechage.”
Once the round-robin was concluded, the afternoon’s schedule included the beginning of the repechage round, where the bottom eight teams compete in a second round-robin format to determine the four remaining spots in the quarter-finals.
Racing is December 10–15 with the winner crowned the 2024 Match Racing World Champion and earning a share of the USD 200,000 prize purse.
Tour information – Event details and results – Facebook
Entry list –
1. Chris Poole (USA), #1 rank – Crew: Kai Coleman, Cam Seagreen, Sam Gilmour
2. Eric Monnin (Switzerland), #2 rank – Crew: Simon Brügger, Maxime Mesnil, Ute Monnin-Wagner, Hugo Feydit
3. Rocco Attili (Italy), #3 rank – Crew: Gianluca Perasole, Ludovico Mori, Giulio Tamburini, Camilla Cordero di Montezemo
4. Timothée Rossi (France), #4 rank – Crew: Theo Masse, Aymeric Arthaud, Tom Marsan, Gaultier Tallieu
5. Ian Garreta (France), #5 rank – Crew: Vicenç Girodeau, Thibaut Demai, Calixte Benoit, Alice Chiappori
6. Johnie Berntsson (Sweden), #8 rank – Crew: Johnie Berntsson, Filip Karlsson, Daniel Engblom Wolfgang, Herman Rolf Andersson
7. Aurélien Pierroz (France), #10 rank – Crew: Celément Michel, Sébastien Riot, Aurélien Barthelémy, Lola Billn
8. Nick Egnot-Johnson (New Zealand), #11 rank – Crew: Jack Frewin, Zak Merton, Chris Main
9. Ian Williams (England) – Crew: Jon Gundersen, Richard Sydenham, Gerrard Thomas
10. Zac West (Australia) – Crew: Tom Picot, James Hayhoe, James Hopkins
11. Cole Tapper (Australia) – Crew: Jordan Reece, Max Brennan, Hamish Vass
12. Sheng Shen (China) – Crew: Yongdong Zhang 张永东, Yi Huang 黄艺, Changlong Liu 刘昌隆, Liguo Zhang 张立国, Hainan Chen 陈海南
Founded in 2000, the World Match Racing Tour (WMRT) promotes the sport of match racing around the world and is the longest running global professional series in the sport of sailing. The winner of the WMRT each year is crowned World Sailing Match Racing World Champion.
Previous champions include Sir Ben Ainslie (GBR), Taylor Canfield (USA), Peter Gilmour (AUS), Magnus Holmberg (SWE), Peter Holmberg (ISV), Adam Minoprio (NZL), Torvar Mirsky (AUS), Bertrand Pace (FRA), Jesper Radich (DEN), Phil Robertson (NZL), and Ian Williams (GBR).
Since inception, the World Match Racing Tour and its events have awarded over USD23million in prize money to sailors which has helped to contribute to the career pathway of many of today’s professional sailors.
Source: WMRT- https://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/2024/12/12/four-firm-at-world-match-racing-finals/
