Jesper Bank of the Swedish Victory Challenge for the America's Cup has won the Stockholm City Match 2001, an ISAF Grade 1 Event organised by Royal Swedish Yacht Club (KSSS) and Gamla Stans Yacht Sällskap (GSYS). Bank outdueled his teammate Magnus Holmberg two races to zero in the championship final sailed in the centre of Stockholm, Sweden.

In the petit final Kelvin Harrap of the OneWorld Challenge left nothing to chance and handily defeated danish sailor Jes Gram-Hansen two races to zero to finish third.

In the semifinals raced earlier in the day Magnus Holmberg ended an overnight of suspense, when, by virtue of being the top qualifier for the semifinals, he chose Kelvin Harrap as his opponent. Holmberg easily handled the American and swept Harrap 2-0 in the best-of-three match semifinal.

The only pairing needing three matches to determine a victor featured Jesper Bank of the Victory Challenge against Jes Gram-Hansen. Bank and crew dropped the first match to the Danish team before rallying to take two in a row, winning the deciding match.

Final :


Flight 1 : J. Bank def. M. Holmberg - K. Harrap def. J. Gram Hansen

Flight 2 : J. Bank def. M. Holmberg - K. Harrap def. J. Gram Hansen


Semifinals :

Flight 1 : M. Holmberg def. K. Harrap - J. Gram Hansen def. J. Bank

Flight 2 : M. Holmberg def. K. Harrap - J. Bank def. J. Gram Hansen

Flight 3 : J. Bank def. J. Gram Hansen

On the Second day of City Match 2001 the round robin series was now completed. After an action packed day in sweden, three America's Cup teams and one danish have made the cut to the semi-finals.

First to secure a place in the semi-finals was swedish Magnus Holmberg (Victory Challenge) who ends up as the top qualifier with 9 wins and 2 defeats. His team mate Jesper bank ensured his place in Sunday's semi-final action with 8 wins and 3 defeats.

Joining the couple were Jes Gram-Hansen and OneWorld's Kelvin Harrap. Gram-Hansen has 8 wins while Harrap has 7.

Leaderboard (Skipper / Wins / Losses)

Magnus Holmberg (SWE/Victory Challenge) 9 - 2
Jesper Bank (SWE/Victory Challenge) 8 - 3
Jes Gram Hansen (DEN) 8 - 3
Kelvin Harrap (USA/OneWorld Challenge) 7 – 4

Björn Hansen (SWE) 6 - 5
Mattias Rahm (SWE) 6 – 5
Jesper Radich (DEN) 5 - 6
Staffan Lindberg (FIN) 4 - 7
Patrick Langley (JPN) 4 - 7
Mathieu Richard (FRA) 4 - 7
Oscar Angervall (SWE/Victory Challenge) 3 - 8
Henrik Jensen (DEN) 2 - 9


Results

Flight 12 : K. Harrap def. M. Rahm - S. Lindberg def. P. Langley - J. Gram Hansen def. O. Angervall

Flight 13 : J. Bank def. S. Lindberg - P. Langley def. M. Rahm - M. Richard def. K. Harrap

Flight 14 : O. Angervall def. J. Radich - K. Harrap def. S. Lindberg - P. Langley def. M. Richard

Flight 15 : K. Harrap def. O. Angervall - M. Rahm def. J. Bank- P. Langley def. B. Hansen

Flight 16 : H. Jensen def. O. Angervall - M. Holmberg def. P. Langley - B. Hansen def. K. Harrap

Flight 17 : J.Gram Hansen def. M. Rahm - B. Hansen def. J. Radich - O. Angervall def. P. Langley

Flight 18 : J. Radich def. M. Rahm - J. Gram Hansen def. B. Hansen - S. Lindberg def. H. Jensen

Flight 19 : M. Holmberg def. J. Bank - B. Hansen def. H. Jensen - J. Gram Hansen def. M.Richard

Flight 20 : M. Holmberg def. H. Jensen - M. Richard def. J. Radich - J. Bank def. B. Hansen

Flight 21 : J. Radich def. S. Lindberg - M. Holmberg def. J. Gram Hansen - J. Bank def. M. Richard

Flight 22 : J. Gram Hansen def. S. Lindberg - M. Richard def. H. Jensen - M. Holmberg def. J. Radich

In a perfect day offshore Stockholm : a 20 knoths wind and sun, no waves, and 11races sailed in total.

On the first day of racing, no skipper emerged unscathed, although Victory Challenge skipper Magnus Holmberg and fellow team member Jesper Bank, and Mattias Rahm all got through with just one loss.

Leaderboard (Skipper / Wins / Losses)

Jesper Bank (SWE/Victory Challenge) 4-1
Magnus Holmberg (SWE/Victory Challenge) 4-1
Matias Rahm (SWE) 4-1
Björn Hansen (SWE) 3-2
Kelvin Harrap (USA/OneWorld Challenge) 3-2
Jesper Radich (DEN) 3-2
Jes Gram Hansen (DEN) 3-2
Staffan Lindberg (FIN) 2-3
Patrick Langley (JPN) 1-4
Oscar Angervall (SWE/Victory Challenge) 1-4
Henrik Jensen (DEN) 1-4
Mathieu Richard (FRA) 1-4

Results

Flight 1 : M. Rahm def. M. Holmberg - B. Hansen def. S. Lindberg - M. Richard def. O. Angervall

Flight 2 : M. Rahm def. S. Lindberg - M. Holmberg def. M. Richard - O. Angervall def. B. Hansen

Flight 3 : S. Lindberg def. M. Richard - M. Holmberg def. O. Angervall - B. Hansen def. M. Rahm

Flight 4 : S. Lindberg def. O. Angervall - M. Rahm def. M. Richard - M. Holmberg def. B. Hansen

Flight 5 : M. Rahm def. O. Angervall - B. Hansen def. M. Richard - M. Holmberg def. S. Lindberg

Flight 6 : K. Harrap def. J. Radich - J. Gram Hansen def. H. Jensen - J. Bank def. P. Langley

Flight 7 : K. Harrap def. H. Jensen - J. Radich def. J. Bank - P. Langley def. J. Gram Hansen

Flight 8 : J. Bank def. H. Jensen - J. Radich def. P. Langley - J. Gram Hansen def. K. Harrap

Flight 9 : H. Jensen def. P. Langley - J. Bank def. K. Harrap - J. Gram Hansen def. J. Radich

Flight 10 : K. Harrap def. P. Langley - J. Bank def. J. Gram Hansen - J. Radich def. H. Jensen

Flight 11 : M. Rahm def. H. Jensen - K. Harrap def. M. Holmberg - J. Bank def. O. Angervall

Three Victory Challenge crews are taking part in Stockholm’s City Match 2001, starting today and running until Sunday. Magnus Holmberg and Jesper Bank have come directly from last Sunday’s Danish Open finals, with Magnus triumphant. Oscar Angervall is the third Victory Challenge crewmember to take part in today’s racing.

The City Match 2001 is not part of the World Cup Swedish Match Grand Prix Sailing Tour. It’s the fifth time it is being held, and since 1999 the matches take place in the middle of Stockholm, on a stretch of water called Riddarfjärden.

Amongst the Victory Challenge Teams, Kelvin Harrap will be competing for the Seattle America's Cup Challenge OneWorld, the Swedish Match Tour regulars Jesper Radich and his Team Steff-Houlberg and Jes Gram-Hansen and his Team Hotel Marienlyst, ranked sixth and seventh, respectively, by ISAF.

Other skippers participating (and their ISAF rankings), are Denmark's Henrik Jensen (23e), Sweden's Björn Hansen (12e) and Mattias Rahm (31e), France's Mathieu Richard (30e), Japan's Patrick Langley (73e) and Finn's Staffan Lindberg (18e).