By World Sailing
After two days of racing, the battle at the top of the Team Racing World Championship remains wide open.
Both US teams are still leading the way on Stockholm’s Riddarfjärden, but New Zealand have firmly entered the title race after six consecutive victories, including wins over both American teams. Meanwhile, Australia claimed their first victory of the Championship and Japan finally ended their winless run.
Friday saw Round Robin 2 continue, with winds from the same direction as much of Thursday. A remarkable 55 races were completed on Thursday, followed by another 42 on Friday, before a wind shift and fading breeze brought racing to an end ahead of the evening dinner.
That leaves 35 races still to complete in Round Robin 2, with Race 73 scheduled to resume first thing Saturday morning. Winds were lighter than on Thursday, ranging between 3-5 m/s, but remained stable enough for uninterrupted racing.
New Zealand take down both US teams
The two US teams had dominated the opening day and remained at the top of the leaderboard on Friday morning. Then New Zealand changed the picture.
The Kiwi team – consisting of Jordan Stevenson, Mason Mulcahy, Rebecca Morgan, Zoe Dawson, Frankie Dair, George Angus, Luis Schneider and Maeve White – won six races in a row, including victories over both USA 1 and USA 2.
For USA 1, the loss to New Zealand was their first of the Championship.
“It was our first loss. I can’t really explain what happened. The races are so close and so fast,” said Alex Curtiss, skipper of USA 1.
The race was decided after a series of tight tactical manoeuvres that continued almost to the finish.
Curtiss has been impressed by the level of competition at this event. USA 1 are racing together at a World Championship for the first time, although many of the sailors have extensive experience and have raced together for years.
“The level is extremely high. When team racing started moving towards two versus two, instead of the three versus three that was more common before, team racing became much more of a global sport, with many strong teams from different nations.”
The Kiwi team – consisting of Jordan Stevenson, Mason Mulcahy, Rebecca Morgan, Zoe Dawson, Frankie Dair, George Angus, Luis Schneider and Maeve White – won six races in a row, including victories over both USA 1 and USA 2. Photos / Malcolm Hanes
New Zealand finished second at last year’s World Championship in the US and prepared for this year’s event by training in Denmark.
“We learned a lot about the J/80s. Watch out for Denmark!” said Jordan Stevenson, skipper of New Zealand.
He also prefers the lighter conditions.
“I prefer lighter winds. You have a little more time to think about what you’re going to do.”
Race 58: 14 minutes of drama
One of the day’s standout battles was Race 58 between USA 2 and New Zealand.
Normally an eight- to nine-minute race, it stretched beyond 14 minutes as the teams fought through a succession of tactical battles, while the subsequent race was taking place in the same area.
New Zealand eventually took the win right on the finish line, becoming the first team to defeat an American team in this Championship.
Australia finally break their duck
For Australia, Friday brought a breakthrough.
The youngest team in the Championship, with an average age of just 21, they have relatively little team racing experience. Several sailors come from dinghy sailing backgrounds and are more familiar with other formats.
But after a difficult opening day, they felt they had made major progress.
In Race 64 against Japan, it finally paid off.
The two teams were still searching for their first win. Australia made a solid start and fought through a series of close tactical manoeuvres before making the decisive move downwind.
They converted their position into a 1–2, while Japan picked up penalties after a tack and a late windward infringement. Australia then controlled the race to the finish.
“It was really exciting to get into the groove of it. We felt like we’d made some really big improvements over the last 24 hours,” James Jackson, skipper of the Australian team, said afterwards.
The focus now is on building momentum.
“We just want to keep improving and keep the team morale high. They’re really long days on the water, so we’re trying to keep the energy levels up and, most importantly, keep enjoying it.”
The young Australians have admitted to making a few “silly mistakes”, including missing course boundaries. But they have embraced the experience of competing against some of the world’s most experienced teams.
Japan finally get their win
Japan have also had a challenging opening to the Championship. Houmi Sato points to the relatively short starting lines as one of the team’s biggest challenges.
“The main challenge is the narrow starting lines.”
Their goal for Friday was simple: get a win. Later in the day, they finally achieved it – coincidentally just as the Japanese Ambassador arrived at the venue.
Every second counts
The intensity of Team Racing is what makes this Championship so compelling. Races last only minutes, starts come rapidly, and there is almost no time to recover from a mistake.
A missed boundary. A poor start. A misjudgement at a mark. Or a communication error at the crucial moment.
On Riddarfjärden, any one of them can turn a race around.
As Friday’s racing ended, the USA teams still held the strongest positions. But New Zealand have shown they can beat them, and the rest of the fleet is closing in.
With 35 races still to complete in Round Robin 2, the battle is wide open.
Competition at the 2026 Team Racing World Championship continues until Sunday 16 August.
Latest results here.
Originally published by Yachting New Zealand.
