Dane gets top prize

Lotte Meldgaard Pedersen's team wins at the Lysekil Women's Match

After five days of racing with 12 of the world’s best female match racers, Lotte Meldgaard Pedersen of Team HSH Nordbank took a sensational victory today after beating French Claire Leroy, Team Ideactor, in a very tight final. Meldgaard Pedersen won the Stena Bulk Trophy and the biggest prize money in women’s match racing: 10,900 Euros or £7,300. Swedish Linda Rahm took third.

After a 2-0 disadvantage in the finals, Lotte Meldgaard Pedersen broke French Claire Leroy’s convincing lead and won three matches in a row to take victory. Leroy has more or less sailed without fault during the week and it was only in the finals she started to show any signs of weakness when Lotte Meldgaard Pedersen took an impressive advantage and won three out of five really close races. Meldgaard Pedersen and her crew Mia Nielsen, Christina Refu, Sille Christensen, Inge Merete Ebbengaard, and Anne Morup-Petersen showed that this team belongs to the very top of women’s match racing.

"The opposition has been really tough and this is a great victory for us," said Meldgaard Pedersen after her success today. She is ranked eighth on the world ranking list and had her revenge in Lysekil after finishing fourth in the World Championships in Denmark in May.

The huge area of high pressure over Sweden did not help the wind build today and racing could not start before 2pm local time. The semi-final races had to be cancelled and therefore only one semi-final race was completed since yesterday so the two Swedes Linda Rahm and Malin Millbourn had to change focus and fight for third. Linda Rahm has sailed strongly all week and took a well deserved third place.

Besides the honour of winning, a lot of money has been at stake. The prize purse was 43,500 Euros or £29,300, with 10,900 Euros/£7,300 going to the winner. This is the biggest prize money in women’s match racing, giving a lot of status to the Lysekil Women’s Match in match racing circuits around the world.

The event's manager Anna Holmdahl is happy with the week’s racing: "We had really good conditions all week with exciting racing on a high level in variable winds. The changing wind has been very demanding for the teams and given us fun racing. Lysekil is a fantastic arena for match racing with the race course as close to land as the audience can hear the commando calls on board. This is match racing at its best, both for sailors and audience and we are really happy to see the big audience we had during the event."

Result Finals

Lotte Meldgaard Pedersen DEN/Team HSH Nordbank - Claire Leroy FRA/Team Ideactor 3–2

Result Petit Final
Linda Rahm SWE/Team Daros – Malin Millbourn SWE/Team Santa Maria 2 - 1

Final Result Lysekil Women’s Match
1. Lotte Meldgaard Pedersen DEN/Team HSH 10,900 Euro/£7,300
2. Claire Leroy FRA/Team Ideactor Nordbank 6 750 Euro/£4,550
2. Linda Rahm SWE/Team Daros 5 540 Euro/£3,740
4. Malin Millbourn SWE/Team Santa Maria 4 565 Euro/£3,080
5. Marie Björling SWE/Team Schenker 4 020 Euro/£2,710
6. Camilla Ulrikkeholm DEN/Team CU 3 480 Euro/£2,345
7. Klaartje Zuiderbaan 3 040 Euro/£2,050
8. Giulia Conti 2 170 Euro/£1,470
9. Jessica Smyth 1,740 Euro/£1,170
10. Josie Gibson 1,300 Euro/£880
11. Ulrike Firk -
12. Martina Karlemo -