Björling - back after maternity leave

Local match racing champion leads women's event at Swedish Match Cup

The round robin series for the women's class at the Swedish Match Cup
in Marstrand finished Tuesday morning in sunny and windy conditions with four skippers making it through to the semi-finals.

Marie Björling, sailing on her home waters and here defending the title she has won twice in a row, managed to win the round-robin series, despite having been on maternity leave for a year. This means she is allowed to choose her opponent for the semi-final: "We are going to think about who it's going to be until Wednesday morning, but all the girls have been really good so it's a hard decision," Marie said.

Also through is Danish sailor Lotte Meldgaard, leader of the world ranking and the number two on the world ranking Claire Leroy from France and the seasoned American
match racer Betsy Alison.

Team Panorama consisting of Marie Björling and her crew - Anna Holmdahl tactician, Jenny Axhede genoa trim, Elin Åderman mast, Elisabeth Nilsson on pit and Annika Carlunger on the bow - made it through to the semi-finals with five wins and only two losses. In the last race, against Danish Anette Ström, she repeated Malin Källström's achievement yesterday and incurred three penalties. "With that many penalties you don't win however good you sail, but it didn't matter that much since it wasn't decisive for making it to the semi-finals," says Björling, who clearly has missed her sport after a year's absence. "We've made some good starts and managed to trim and manoeuvre the vessel well. Therefore we made it through the choppy water keeping up a good speed."

Lotte Meldgaard also finished the round-robin series with five wins and two losses, but came second because of her loss in their reciprocal match. Meldgaard has done much sailing back home in Denmark in the DS Match racers same as are used at Swedish Match Cup. On the other hand the boats were fitted with new rigs from Seldén just before the competition in Marstrand. "We don't notice any real differences and run the vessel as we use to," says Lotte praising her crew - Sille Christensen, Anette Rom and Caroline Clausen trim, Anne Mörup mainsail and Mia Nielsen on the bow. "The girls have done a great job but we are especially satisfied with the sunny and windy weather we've got," Lotte laughs.

American Betsy Alison ended up in a three-way-tie with Claire Leroy and Danish Nina Braestrup Petersen, all finishing with 4 wins and 3 losses. After checking the reciprocal matches Nina was the one who didn't make it to the semi-finals. Claire Leroy had a real good Tuesday and won all her races, while Malin Källström only won once and is therefore not making it into the next round.

Results:

1. Marie Björling, SWE, 5 wins and 2 losses
2. Lotte Meldgaard Pedersen, DEN, 5-2
3. Claire Leroy, FRA, 4-3
4. Betsy Alison, USA, 4-3
5. Nina Braestrup Petersen, DEN, 4-3
6. Malin Källström, SWE, 3-4
7. Annette Ström, DEN, 3-4
8. Sabrina Gurioli, ITA, 0-7