(Hamilton, Bermuda 31 October, 2024) Sweden’s Johnie Berntsson, 2023 defending champion of the Bermuda Gold Cup and three-time winner of the event, completed the round robin stage of this year’s Bermuda Gold Cup event with six wins out of seven races, leading the line-up of international entries into today’s Quarter-finals stage.

The eight teams competing set out yesterday afternoon to complete the final flights of the round-robin stage which will seed the skippers into the next Quarter-final stage. Finishing the round robin stage ahead was Sweden’s Johnie Berntsson followed by USA’s Chris Poole in second, and Australia’s Cole Tapper in third.

2023 Gold Cup champion Berntsson and crew have been the team to beat at this year’s 72nd edition of the event, only losing one of their round robin matches to USA’s Gavin Brady.

In one of the closest matches of the day, Bermuda’s Kelsey Durham came very close to pulling off a major upset as he led Berntsson on the final run of their match to the finish line but was just unable to hold off his Swedish rival.

“It’s just our lack of match racing in the last four years that we haven’t done while these guys are doing it all the time.” Durham told Bermuda’s Royal Gazette in an earlier interview.

Durham seized the early advantage after Berntsson was tagged with a double penalty. The lead then swapped hands before the defending champion surged ahead. Durham battled on but was stopped dead in his tracks after losing his spinnaker at the finish line.

Durham was later forced to make a crew change in the final race of the day after trimmer Nico Stefani was injured during the mishap.

Australia’s Cole Tapper, competing in his first ever Bermuda Gold Cup, posted an impressive four wins in the round robin finishing the stage in third place after breaking a three-way tie against USA’s Gavin Brady and Switzerland’s Eric Monnin.

“On the first day we definitely had boat handing and starting issues but we have improved on those, and we know we are not slow” commented Tapper at the post-race press conference.

Racing continues today with the start of the Quarter final stage.