Great Britain's Ian WILLIAMS takes over at the top in the latest release of the ISAF World Match Race Rankings on 25 June, whilst Claire LEROY of France remains well clear of the chasing pack in the Women's Rankings.

Ian WILLIAMS' (GBR) recent runners-up finish at the latest World Tour stage in Korea propels him back to the top of the World Rankings. With Claire LEROY (FRA) still way ahead amongst the women, now both world #1 spots are now occupied by the reigning Open and Women's ISAF Match Racing World Champions.

Open Rankings

New events included in this Ranking release:

Grade WC - Korea Match Cup, KOR
Grade 2 - Blurimini Match Race, ITA
Grade 2 - Sails of White Nights - The National Congress Palace Cup, RUS
Grade 2 - Open Match Race Cup, AUT
For ISAF Grade 3-5 events included see www.sailing.org/regattasearch

Ian WILLIAMS (GBR) is back on top in the ISAF World Match Race Rankings, replacing Mathieu RICHARD (FRA) at the top spot. WILLIAMS, the reigning ISAF Match Racing World Champion, outperformed his French rival at the latest stage of the World Match Racing Tour in Korea to regain the world #1 spot he previously held for five months from May-September 2007.

WILLIAMS finished as runner up at the Korea Match Cup to Frenchman Seb COL (FRA); his best performance to date on this year's World Tour and one that has given him a big points lead in the World Championship standings as well as boosting him back to the top in the Rankings. RICHARD could only manage fifth overall in Korea, losing out to young Kiwi hotshot Adam MINOPRIO (NZL) in the quarter-finals, bringing to an end his run of six consecutive Ranking releases in the world #1 spot.

Behind the top two, Paolo CIAN (ITA) remains at #3, whilst COL moves up one place to #4 following his win in Korea. Peter WIBROE (DEN) is new into the world top ten, gaining three places up to #8, but the big mover is Adam MINOPRIO, climbing a massive 16 places to a career-best Ranking of #10. The 23 year old Kiwi, who first served notice of his talent two years ago by winning the fiercely contested Warren Jones Youth Regatta in Perth, has had a fantastic four-week spell, winning ISAF Grade 2 events in Austria and Italy before scoring his best-ever World Tour finish of third in Korea.

Another climber is Russia's ARBUZOV, who won on his home waters at the ISAF Grade 2 Sails of White Nights event in St Petersburg and gains two places to #13. ARBUZOV's win means he is now the top-placed Russian skipper on the Rankings.

Further down the Rankings, Keith SWINTON (AUS) climbs over 20 places from #53 to #29 following a victory at the ISAF Grade 3 Trofeo Match Race G. Marconi in Italy. Gavin BRADY (NZL) makes the biggest move amongst the top 100, gaining from #138 to #60 following his win at the ISAF Grade 1 Congressional Cup.

Women's Rankings

New events included in this Ranking release:

Grade 1 - Boat US Santa Maria Cup, USA
Grade 2 - Nordic Women's Match Tour Race 2, FIN
Grade 2 - European University Women Match Racing Cup, FRA

Claire LEROY (FRA) stays top of the Women's ISAF World Match Race Rankings for the 25th consecutive release. The French skipper is looking stronger than ever in the world #1 spot and is now over now over 1,000 Ranking points in front of Lotte MELDGAARD PEDERSEN (DEN) at #2. Katie SPITHILL (AUS), Silke HAHLBROCK (GER) and Liz BAYLIS (USA) are also all unmoved at #3, #4 and #5 respectively as the world top five remains unchanged in this release.

Sally BARKOW (USA) demonstrated her preparations for the Yngling event at this year's Olympic Sailing Competition haven't had any impact on her status as one of the most formidable skippers on the women's match racing circuit with a victory at the ISAF Grade 1 Boat US Santa Maria Cup. BARKOW's third Santa Maria Cup win keeps her amongst the world top ten at #8.

Other winners in this Ranking period were Martina KARLEMO (FIN) at the ISAF Grade 2 Nordic Women's Match Tour Race 2 in Helsinki, who rises from #51 to #27; and Charlotte LAWRENCE (GBR) at the ISAF Grade 2 European University Women Match Racing Cup in La Rochelle, who climbs up nearly 50 places from #101 to a career-best Ranking of #54.

Match racing - Open - Wednesday 25 June 2008 Pos Name Country Crew Events Previous Best Points 1 WILLIAMS Ian GBR 8 2 1 11812 2 RICHARD Mathieu FRA 8 1 1 11721 3 CIAN Paolo ITA 8 3 2 11009 4 COL S?bastien FRA 8 5 1 10842 5 HANSEN Bjorn SWE 8 4 4 10747 6 IEHL Damien FRA 8 6 6 10632 7 MIRSKY Torvar AUS 8 8 7 9744 8 WIBROE Peter DEN 8 11 8 9435 9 LINDBERG Staffan FIN 8 7 5 9434 10 MINOPRIO Adam NZL 8 26 10 9344 11 EBLER Mads DEN 8 12 11 9317 12 MORVAN Pierre-antoine FRA 8 9 7 9213 13 ARBUZOV Andrew RUS 8 15 11 9007 14 NEUGODNIKOV Eugeniy RUS 8 10 5 8931 15 RADICH Jesper DEN 6 19 1 8710 16 MONNIN Eric SUI 8 14 11 8564 17 PRESTI Philippe FRA 8 16 5 8500 18 GILMOUR Peter AUS 8 18 1 8450 19 BERNTSSON Johnie SWE 8 17 8 8445 20 AINSLIE Ian RSA 8 13 12 8277

Match racing - Women - Wednesday 25 June 2008 Pos Name Country Crew Events Previous Best Points 1 LEROY Claire FRA 8 1 1 11454 2 MELDGAARD PEDERSEN Lotte DEN 8 2 1 10435 3 SPITHILL Katie AUS 8 3 3 9428 4 HAHLBROCK Silke GER 8 4 3 9304 5 BAYLIS Elizabeth USA 8 5 2 8966 6 LEHTINEN Silja FIN 8 6 4 8867 7 PHILIPPE Christelle FRA 8 7 4 8770 8 BARKOW Sally USA 5 8 3 8468 9 SOUTER Nicole AUS 8 11 5 7901 10 AXHEDE Jenny SWE 8 10 4 7866 11 RAHM Linda SWE 6 9 5 7816 12 GURIOLI Sabrina ITA 8 12 8 7475 13 GIBSON Josephine GBR 8 13 7 7366 14 BOSSARD Julie FRA 8 20 14 6827 15 ULRIKKEHOLM Camilla DEN 8 14 14 6797 16 LOVELL Katy USA 8 15 15 6431 17 HAYES Sandra USA 8 16 13 6424 18 FARRELL Gemma GBR 8 19 10 6361 19 GERON Mathilde FRA 8 18 18 6300 20 KJELLBERG Anna SWE 8 23 20 6285

ISAF World Match Race Rankings - www.sailing.org/mrrankings

The next release of the ISAF World Match Race Rankings will be on 30 July 2008.

by ISAF

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