2025 Bermuda Gold Cup Overall - Swedish Sweep: Berntsson and Östling victorious in Bermuda
by World Match Racing Tour 27 Oct 11:11 GMT
October 21-26, 2025
2025 Bermuda Gold Cup - Sweden's Wings Sailing and Berntsson Sailing Team celebrate their joint victories at the Bermuda Gold Cup and Aspen Women's Bermuda Match Race © Ian Roman / WMRT
There were wild scenes of Swedish celebrations in Bermuda on Sunday as Johnie Berntsson and his team of Björn Lundgren, Herman Andersson and Oscar Angervall made history with a Bermuda Gold Cup hat-trick after beating Great Britain's Ian Williams 3-0 in a tense final.
Sweden's Anna Östling and her Wings Sailing team defeated Denmark's Lea Vogelius and her WOW Racing team in a battle for Scandinavian supremacy in the second edition of the Aspen Women's Bermuda Match Racing Regatta.
Berntsson grabbed his own slice of Bermuda Gold Cup history by becoming the only sailor to lift the famous King Edward VII trophy three years in a row since the event switched to the modern format in 1985.
The Swedish skipper is also closing in on Sir Russell Coutts's record of seven Gold Cup victories, with the defeat of Ian Williams in Hamilton Harbour on Sunday taking his record to five wins.
Berntsson swept Williams 3-0 in the Gold Cup final, although the races were much closer than the scoreline suggested, and it took some time for him to process his personal milestone. "If you had told me 20 years ago that I would win this regatta just once, I wouldn't have believed you," he said. "To now be just behind Sir Russell Coutts, I am over the moon. I have been sailing with this team now for three years and I am struggling to describe it. No other Swedes have ever won the Gold Cup and I look at all the other names on the King Edward VII trophy and it's just such an honour to be on there with them."
Berntsson was pushed all the way by Williams, gaining the advantage in the first race after his opponent was handed penalty and coming out on tap of a protracted duel in the last race. "The first race we came from behind and it was just a penalty that gave us the advantage to take that one, so that was lucky for us," he said. "The second one he hunted us all the way around and it's never easy when Ian Williams is just behind you. In the last race there was a fight all around the racecourse and he played us so hard. We had dial downs, tack covering, tack to splits and that race had it all. I would love to see it back on video as it was a great race."
For the vanquished Williams, he was left to rue the small margins in a couple of defeats. "Johnie outsailed us in race two but a couple of races were super tight," he said. "But in the real tight moments, he just got the hooks he needed when he needed them. That was great work for him and good decision making when he need it."
In the Aspen Bermuda Women's Match Race running alongside the Gold Cup, Sweden's Anna Östling and her Wings Sailing team of Anna Holmdahl, Elisabeth Nilsson, Annika Carlunger and Linnea Wennergern ensured that Abba songs featured highly on the playlist in the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club after a double Swedish success.
Through the week, Östling had made no secret of her belief that her team would win the Aspen Women's Match Racing Tour regatta and she came good on her promise. "I had such a good feeling that this would be our week and that we would make it and we've done it," she said. "We made such good starts, which was something we had struggled with all week and the way we sailed I don't think anybody would have beaten us today. I just have a very good team and we had such good speed in these boats. When you have that speed you can be very relaxed as a skipper and feel like you can do anything."
While only able to finish third in Bermuda, France's Pauline Courtois picked up her trophy for winning the overall 2025 Women's World Match Racing Tour championship for the fifth straight year. "We are delighted to win the world tour again!," she said. "It's such a big achievement for all the team and we work so hard. That winning feeling always stays the same as it is easier to get to the top than stay there. I'm really proud of this team as we know all the teams want to beat us and we have to work harder each year to be better and better."
Overall Results:
Bermuda Gold Cup 2025
1. SWE Johnie Berntsson
2. GBR Ian Williams
3. USA Chris Poole
4. SUI Eric Monnin
5. NZL Nick Egnot-Johnson
6. FRA Ian Garreta
7. CAN Peter Wickwire
8. FRA Timothée Rossi
Aspen Bermuda Women's Match Race Regatta 2025
1 SWE Anna ?stling
2 DEN Lea Vogelius
3 FRA Pauline Courtois
4 USA Nicole Breault
5 NED Julia Aartsen
6 USA Lindsey Baab
7 SWE Martina Carlsson
8 DEN Kristine Mauritzen
For full results table see wmrt.com/live-results and for the Aspen Bermuda Women's Match Race at womenswmrt.com/live-results