Women's Match Race Golfe du Morbihan - Overall

Danish World no. 1 Camilla Ulrikkeholm won the Women's Match Race Golfe du Morbihan in Vannes, the second stage of the 2014 WIM Series, by beating Dutch Klaartje Zuiderbaan 3 - 0 © Francois Berland / WIM Series

Ulrikkeholm (DEN) takes Vannes trophy

Replaces Swede Anna Kjellberg on top of WIM Series leaderboard

The world #1 Camilla Ulrikkeholm of Denmark showed today at the Women's Match Race Golfe du Morbihan in Vannes, France, why she holds the top spot of the ISAF world ranking. First she concluded the semi finals with three straight wins over local hero Anne-Claire Le Berre. Then she defeated Klaartje Zuiderbaan, NED, with the same score in the final. An absolutely remarkable recovery from her 8th place in the round robin: "Well, at the first days of this regatta I never thought we should stand here today as winners of the whole thing" Ulrikkeholm admitted with a big smile.

After a short postponement in the morning, the Brittany waters of Vannes today offered a steady southerly breeze and a little more protection from the sun than the previous days. After finishing their semi final, Ulrikkeholm and Le Berre had to wait for a while as Zuiderbaan and Swedish World Champion Anna Kjellberg took their semi final to five thrilling matches, filled with extraordinary manoeuvres and breath-taking action. Finally the Dutch grabbed the ticket to the final by just a metre in the fifth match:

"Of course we're disappointed, but this time we didn't sail on our top level. My whole team really did what they could, and we're totally exhausted, but it simply didn't help.", Kjellberg sighed after having lost also the petit final, to home sailor Anne-Claire Le Berre.

The 3 – 0 score between Ulrikkeholm and Zuiderbaan may seem like it was an easy catch for the Danes, but that's not true. The Dutch let her great experience talk in the first two pre starts, in which Ulrikkeholm controlled everything until 15 seconds before the gun.

"I didn't know what she did, but somehow she managed to get out of our grip and sneak away before us, so we had to work really hard to fight back for the leading position" Ulrikkeholm commented, winning the third match after leading from start to finish.

"Camilla sailed much better than us today, and she really deserved to win. Probably we put too much energy into reaching the final, and didn't have any power left while there." Zuiderbaan said, not being too disappointed.

"Frankly not, overall I'm happy on how we sailed and I didn't expect us to be in the final."

All the semi finalists will in just a week's time have their chance to revenge themselves, when the third stage of the 2014 Women's International Match Racing Series (WIM Series) kicks off with Lysekil Women's Match in the beautiful archipelago of western Sweden. Ulrikkeholm has three consecutive titles there, but local hope Anna Kjellberg wants to prevent a fourth Danish victory:

"We've never won the Lysekil Women's Match, so we're really looking forward to that" she laughs.

"The event in Lysekil is a completely different game, with a crew of six and larger boats" Anne-Claire Le Berre reflected, very pleased with the just finished event on her home waters.

"We've certainly had a beautiful week in Vannes, with an event that I'm sure can encourage younger French crews to practise and do more match racing."

Final Results:
Camilla Ulrikkeholm, DEN – Klaartje Zuiderbaan, NED 3 – 0

Petit Final Results:
Anna Kjellberg, SWE – Anne-Claire Le Berre, FRA 1 – 1

Semi Finals:
Camilla Ulrikkeholm, DEN – Anne-Claire Le Berre, FRA 3 – 0
Klaartje Zuiderbaan, NED – Anna Kjellberg, SWE 3 – 2

Women's Match Race Golfe du Morbihan Results:
(skipper name, country, prize money, WIM Series points)

1. Camilla Ulrikkeholm, DEN, 2 475 €, 25
2. Klaartje Zuiderbaan, NED, 1 275 €, 22
3. Anne-Claire Le Berre, FRA, 975 €, 20
4. Anna Kjellberg, SWE, 750 €, 16
5. Annabel Vose, GBR, 675 €, 15
6. Morgane Fountaine, FRA, 600 €, 14
7. Caroline Sylvan, SWE, 450 €, 13
8. Claudia Pierce, NZL, 300 €, 12
9. Pauline Courtois, FRA, 0 €, 10
10. Lucie Scheiwiller, FRA, 0 €, 8
11. Rajaa Al Owaisi, OMA, 0 €, 6
12. Anastasia Guseva, RUS, 0 €, 4

WIM Series Standings: (after two stages of five)

1. Camilla Ulrikkeholm, DEN, 47pts
2. Anna Kjellberg, SWE, 41pts
3. Klaartje Zuiderbaan, NED, 36pts
4. Anne-Claire Le Berre, FRA, 35pts
5. Caroline Sylvan, SWE, 29pts
6. Annabel Vose, GBR, 25pts
7. Claudia Pierce, NZL, 24pts
8. Stephanie Roble, USA, 20pts
9. Morgane Fountaine, FRA, 14pts
10. Lotte Meldgaard Pedersen, DEN, 13pts
11. Lucie Scheiwiller, FRA, 12pts
12. Pauline Courtois, FRA, 10pts
13. Mary O'Loughlin, IRL, 8pts
14. Rajaa Al Owaisi, OMA, 6pts
15. Laura Dillon, IRL, 6pts
16. Anastasia Guseva, RUS, 4pts

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