Rolex 2000 Women's Match Racing

by Susannnah Bourne on 1 Dec 2000 Reigning world champion Dorte Jensen from Denmark and Marie Bjorling from Sweden
are yet to drop a match in the quarter-final round robin of the Rolex 2000 ISAF Women's
World Match Racing Championship in St Petersburg, Florida.

Bjorling's progress through the rounds is particularly remarkable because two weeks ago
she did not even know she was coming to the event. 'Another Swedish team pulled out
with crew injuries, so we have been hurrying to get ourselves mentally prepared,' she
said.

Five-times Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year, Betsy Alison of the USA, lies in third place,
with three wins to her name. Behind her, the other five remaining teams all sit on either
one or two race wins, so there is everything to play for when the last heats are raced
tomorrow morning. Olympic gold medallist Shirley Robertson has two wins and remains
confident about her chances of moving through to the semi-finals. Also on two wins is
Hannah Swett of the USA, crewed by current Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year Dawn
Riley.

Biggest shock is Klaartje Zuiderbaan's apparent loss of form. The No. 3 seed from the
Netherlands scored just one win from five, but the scoreline belies the closeness of the
racing. Twice she found herself in a tight gybing duel down to the finish, first with Katie
Spithill of Australia and later with Marie Bjorling. Both times she lost by less than two
seconds.

The European match race champion was very frank about her narrow losses. 'We just
weren't good enough,' she smiled. 'We have some improvements to make to our
downwind tactics.'

But no one is out of this contest yet. As long as all eight have a mathematical chance of
victory, they will continue to grasp every opportunity to the end. The quarter-finals and
semi-finals should be decided by the end of tomorrow, with the finals taking place on
Saturday, 2nd December.

In the consolation quarter-final to decide overall positions from 9th to 16th, Cristiana
Monina of Italy and Christine Briand of France are joint leaders with five wins out of six
heats.