It will be an all Royal Gothenberg YC final on Saturday when Marie Björling squares off against Malin Källström in the Swedish Match Cup Women’s Class final. As Källström mentioned in today’s press conference, the two are very familiar with each other and the final should be one to watch. “They say it takes two to tango,” said Källström, currently ranked 26th in the world after taking leave to have a baby. “If you want to see some really rough dancing, come Saturday.”To make the finals, Källström dispatched unranked Danish skipper Annette Ström 3-0. Though Ström hasn’t competed under her own name all that much, she’s won three world championships crewing for countrywoman Dorte Jensen. The other semi, however, was an epic battle, with Björling just edging reigning world champion Malin Millbourn 3-2.Björling started the series off with a come-from-behind win in the first race, but then lost the next two, giving Millbourn an enviable 2-1 lead. Pushing to get the early edge in Race 4, Millbourn found herself just over the line at the starting gun. “We’re talking seconds and millimeters here,” she said. “Which was not good because we were not pushed by Marie at all.”In Race 5, Millbourn again started at a disadvantage, picking up a flag in the prestart. When asked whether it was a fair call, Millbourn responded, “Probably yes.” Over the first two and a half legs, Millbourn legged out to a solid lead and tried to scrub off the penalty just before rounding the second windward mark. It didn’t work. Björling passed her at the top mark and was able to hold Millbourn off on the run to record the 3-2 win. The women’s final and petite finals are scheduled for Saturday afternoon. American Betsy Alison placed fifth in the round robin, a controversial judges decision dropping her team into a tie-breaker for the final two spots, which they lost.As for the main event; after the women finished, Group 2 went back out to close out the rest of the scheduled races for the first group of eight. The two sailors who were hottest on Tuesday didn’t cool off a bit. Mattias Rahm went 2 for 3 and is now tied for first with overall tour leader Jesper Radich, who didn’t loose a race today. Both sailors are 6-1. Two-time Olympic gold medalist Jesper Bank was also perfect today and he is all alone in third with a 5-2 record. Sweden’s Johnie Berndtsson is in fourth with a 4-3 record. Group 1 will sail their first races tomorrow morning. Included in that pairing is ISAF’s top-ranked match racer Karol Jablonski, former OneWorld teammates Peter Gilmour and James Spithill, American Ed Baird, and veteran Chris Law.
