Rungsted, Denmark (Saturday 9 May 2026) – The opening stage of the 2026 Women’s World Match Racing Tour will conclude with an all-Scandinavian final as Sweden’s Anna Östling and Wings Sailing prepare to take on Denmark’s Lea Vogelius/ WOW Racing at the Royal Danish Yacht Club’s KDY Women’s Match Race.
After three days of qualifying competition on the waters off Rungsted Harbour, 2022 and 2023 event winner Östling and her Wings Sailing team of Anna Holmdahl White, Linnea Wennergren, Jenny Axhede, Svea Sahlin and Annika Carlunger once again demonstrated why they remain one of the most respected teams in women’s match racing. The team led through a demanding semifinal match, defeating current Women’s Match Racing World Champions Match in Pink from France skippered by Pauline Courtois 3-1.
Standing opposite the Swedish match racing champions will be local favourite Lea Vogelius and her WOW Racing team of Louise Ulrikkeholm, Sille Christensen, Josefine Rasmussen and Joan Hansen. Vogelius and crew defeated fellow Danish team Those Segulls skippered by Kristine Mauritzen 3-1 in their earlier semi-final match to advance to tomorrow’s final.
“We love sailing the DS37’s,” commented Östling following the semifinal victory. “Lea and her team have been sailing very well all week and they also know these boats and waters well. We’re looking forward to a tough final.”
The matchup highlights both the experience of Wings Sailing and WOW Racing, both of whom are no strangers to the larger DS37 yachts. The pair met in the 2023 final of the KDY Women’s Match Race (which Östling and crew won), and Vogelius also finished runner-up in the 2024 finals against Danish skipper Camilla Ulrikkeholm Klinkby.
Boating New Zealand Insert
Östling stuns Courtois as Vogelius surges to set up Scandinavian final
KDY Women’s Match Race • Royal Danish Yacht Club, Copenhagen • May 7–10, 2026
Pauline Courtois’s perfect record was already gone by mid-afternoon. Round Robin 2 exposed something Round Robin 1 had not: the five-time world champion can be beaten, and on this day she was beaten repeatedly. Courtois finished the second round 3–4, a number made more striking by the identity of one of her three opponents who managed it — Julia D’Amodio, who sits last overall on 2–12. Anna Östling read the vulnerability and turned it into a semi-final result, taking out the defending champion 3–1 to book her place in the final.
The other story of Round Robin 2 was Lea Vogelius. The Danish sailor went 6–1 through the second round — the best record of anyone on the day — to finish the double round robin tied with Courtois on 10–4, but ahead on tiebreak by virtue of their head-to-head. Vogelius beat Courtois in RR2, beat Östling, and dropped only to Kristine Mauritzen. After sitting joint third at the end of RR1, she now leads the overall standings and goes into the final as the top seed.
Östling’s own RR2 was the second-best of the day at 5–2, recovering from her early-round loss to Courtois to beat Mauritzen, D’Amodio, Aartsen, Carlsson and Olesen. Her trajectory from 4–3 in RR1 to 9–5 overall, and now into the final, reflects a campaign that gathered momentum as the conditions on the Øresund became more familiar. The semi-final itself was controlled once Östling took the opening race, and though Courtois levelled in race two, the Swede took races three and four to close it out.
In the other semi, Vogelius handled Mauritzen 3–1 in what was a tightly-fought series. Mauritzen had started the event with the stronger relative showing — her 5–2 RR1 record was one of the performances of day one — but the home-water advantage that made her dangerous in a round robin setting counted for less in a best-of-five format against the form boat in the field. She won the second race but could not convert it into sustained pressure.
The placement races ran alongside the semis without incident. Julia Aartsen claimed fifth overall by defeating Louise K Olesen, who then took sixth over Martina Carlsson. Carlsson secured seventh, leaving Julia D’Amodio in eighth — her sole win of the event coming against Olesen in Round Robin 2. The final between Vogelius and Östling is scheduled for the final day of racing, with Denmark and Sweden to split the podium regardless of outcome.
Overall standings after Round Robin 2
| # | Sailor | W | L | Win % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lea Vogelius DEN | 10 | 4 | 71% |
| 2 | Pauline Courtois FRA | 10 | 4 | 71% |
| 3 | Anna Östling SWE | 9 | 5 | 64% |
| 4 | Kristine Mauritzen DEN | 9 | 5 | 64% |
| 5 | Julia Aartsen NED | 7 | 7 | 50% |
| 6 | Louise K Olesen DEN | 5 | 9 | 36% |
| 7 | Martina Carlsson SWE | 4 | 10 | 29% |
| 8 | Julia D’Amodio FRA | 2 | 12 | 14% |
Courtois and Vogelius are tied on record; Vogelius leads on head-to-head tiebreak.
Head-to-head matrix — Round Robin 2
Row beats column where 1 appears. Vogelius went 6–1, the best record of the round. Courtois lost to D’Amodio, who finished the event in last place overall.
| PC | AÖ | LV | JA | MC | JDA | KM | LKO | W | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pauline Courtois PC | — | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 43% |
| Anna Östling AÖ | 0 | — | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 71% |
| Lea Vogelius LV | 1 | 1 | — | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 86% |
| Julia Aartsen JA | 1 | 0 | 0 | — | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 71% |
| Martina Carlsson MC | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 29% |
| Julia D’Amodio JDA | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | 1 | 14% |
| Kristine Mauritzen KM | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | — | 1 | 4 | 57% |
| Louise K Olesen LKO | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | — | 2 | 29% |
Round Robin 2 results • Source: MatchRacingResults.com
Semi-finals
Race-by-race results. 1 = win, 0 = loss. First to three wins advances to the final.
| Semi-final 1 | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | W |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lea Vogelius DEN Final | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Kristine Mauritzen DEN | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Semi-final 2 | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | W |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anna Östling SWE Final | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Pauline Courtois FRA | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Placement races
| 5th / 6th place | R1 | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Julia Aartsen NED 5th | 1 | 1–0 |
| Louise K Olesen DEN | 0 | 1–0 |
| 6th / 7th place | R1 | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Louise K Olesen DEN 6th | 1 | 1–0 |
| Martina Carlsson SWE | 0 | 1–0 |
| 7th / 8th place | R1 | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Martina Carlsson SWE 7th | 1 | 1–0 |
| Julia D’Amodio FRA | 0 | 1–0 |
Semi-final and placement race results • Source: MatchRacingResults.com
The KDY Women’s Match Race was established in 2022 as a founding event of the Women’s World Match Racing Tour and has hosted subsequent editions in ‘23 and ‘24. With valuable Tour points up for grabs in tomorrow’s final, the Swedish-Danish final promises to deliver a memorable start to the 2026 Women’s World Match Racing Tour season.
2026 entries
| # | Skipper | Country |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pauline Courtois | FRA |
| 2 | Anna Östling | SWE |
| 3 | Lea Vogelius | DEN |
| 4 | Julia Aartsen | NED |
| 5 | Martina Carlsson | SWE |
| 6 | Julia D’Amodio | FRA |
| 7 | Kristine Mauritzen | DEN |
| 8 | Louise K Olesen | DEN |
About Women’s World Match Racing Tour
The Women’s World Match Racing Tour was launched in 2022 to continue the hugely successful legacy of the WIM Series (Women’s International Match Racing Series) providing a global match racing series for female sailors. The name of the series was re-launched as the Women’s World Match Racing Tour with its continued mission to expand and strengthen global match racing and promote opportunities for competitive women’s sailing at every level.
The Women’s World Match Racing Tour is the world’s first and only professional sailing series for women providing a valuable pathway for aspiring female world champions in the sport of sailing.
