Axhede dominates at Womens Match Cup Sweden
Tuesday July 1 - Women Round Robin Flight Match Skipper Boat Skipper Boat Result Port Blue Starboard Yellow 4 1 Linda Rahm Castellum vs Claire Leroy SEB 0 - 1 2 Anna Kjellberg Childhood vs Jenny Axhede Onico 0 - 1 3 Sandy Hayes PelleP vs Camilla Ulrikkeholm Stena 0 - 1 4 Katie Spithill MatchCupSweden vs Lotte Meldgaard Pedersen Duni 0 - 1 5 1 Claire Leroy PelleP vs Camilla Ulrikkeholm Castellum 1 - 0 2 Katie Spithill Onico vs Anna Kjellberg Duni 0 - 1 3 Sandy Hayes SEB vs Linda Rahm Stena 0 - 1 4 Jenny Axhede MatchCupSweden vs Lotte Meldgaard Pedersen Childhood 1 - 0 6 1 Anna Kjellberg PelleP vs Camilla Ulrikkeholm Onico 1 - 0 2 Sandy Hayes Childhood vs Jenny Axhede Stena DSQ - 1 3 Linda Rahm MatchCupSweden vs Lotte Meldgaard Pedersen SEB 1 - 0 4 Katie Spithill Castellum vs Claire Leroy Duni 1 - 7 1 Anna Kjellberg Stena vs Sandy Hayes Onico 1 - 0 2 Camilla Ulrikkeholm Childhood vs Jenny Axhede PelleP 0 - 1 3 Linda Rahm Duni vs Katie Spithill SEB 1 - 0 4 Lotte Meldgaard Pedersen Castellum vs Claire Leroy MatchCupSweden 0 - 1
'Anna Kjellberg Photo: Dan Ljungsvik - Match Cup Sweden'
World Match Racing Tour © Click Here to view large photo
All three Swedish ladies secured their spots in the semi finals of Match Cup Sweden, Women class. Jenny Axhede showed her unbeatable class winning all her seven matches, while 23 years young Anna Kjellberg made a sensational breakthrough in the international sailing world, winning five matches. Linda Rahm and Claire Leroy each won six matches which secured their semi final spots.
Anna Kjellberg and her crew jumped up and down of happiness in the sailing boat cockpit after winning their last match against American Sandy Hayes. But not until they reached the dock they understood that their aggressive and winning sailing style that took her competitors by surprise also paid off all the way to the semi finals.
'I am totally exhausted, this is crazy. But all credits to my team, we have had an incredibly good atmosphere on board. Everything just danced, the boat, the rudder and the sheets', said Anna Kjellberg, with the widest of smiles.
She considers this her best performance in her career, even counting the team's fourth place in the European championship in Vigo last year. And undoubtedly, this is her and her team's breakthrough in international sail racing.
'We have never gotten the chance to sail in big events like this before, so today we are incredibly happy. Now we have to celebrate tonight and start charging for Saturday's competition - we are not quite satisfied yet', Anna says.
Jenny Axhede and her team showed world class match racing skills by being just unbeatable, upsetting number one ranked Claire Leroy and the rest of the international lady sailors both Monday and Tuesday. Seven matches won, none lost, made her way to win the Round Robin series.
'We have been focused and had a great team work onboard. All day we have been very calm and safe in our manoeuvres and had a lot of fun in the hard wind. This is our first hard wind sailing this year, and it created quite a lot of adrenalin', Jenny Axhede from Gothenburg commented.
With wind strength up to nine meters per second, the boats sailed with a reefed main and a small jib. The third Swedish lady going to the semi finals, Linda Rahm, wasn't all comfortable with this and said she and her team were not totally satisfied: 'We are happy to go on to the semi finals but our sailing has not been 100 percent good, which we have to improve to Saturday's final sailings.'
French Claire Leroy, who has been number on the world ladies ranking list since 2005 and is reigning world champion, also secured a semi final spot.
'We were more focused and secure than yesterday', explained Claire.
Results Women, Match Cup Sweden, Marstrand, Tuesday July 1, 2008
Jenny Axhede 7-0
Linda Rahm, 6-1
Claire Leroy, 6-1
Anna Kjellberg, 5-2
www.matchcupsweden.com
Preliminary Results DSQ
by Event media 
sunrise beach, QLD
