King Edward VII Gold Cup semi finals pairings

by Talbot Wilson on 12 Oct 2008 The semi final rounds of the King Edward VII Gold Cup presented by Argo Group is due to get under way off Hamilton Bermuda at 13:00 local time today.
The pairings are:-

Ben Ainslie (GBR) Team Origin v Adam Minoprio (NZL) Emirates Team New Zealand/BlackMatch Racing team

Johnie Berntsson (SWE) Berntsson Sailing Team v Mattias Rahm (SWE) Stena Bulk Sailing Team

Ben Ainslie (Great Britain): At the age of only 31, Ben is one of Britain’s top sailors. His impressive sailing career began at the age of 8 in Restronguet, Cornwall, UK. By age 16 he was already the Laser Radial World Champion. He won his first Olympic medal at the age of 19, silver in the Laser class at the 1996 Atlanta Games. He has since won 3 more Olympic medals all of which have been gold. In 2002 Ainslie won the Finn World Championships and successfully defended this title for the following two years. In 2005 he made history to become the most successful Finn sailor ever by winning his fourth successive Finn Gold Cup. Ben has won eight World and European Championships in his sailing career to date, been crowned ISAF World Sailor of the Year in 1998 and 2002, and four times won British Yachtsman of the Year. In 2007 the British America’s Cup campaign Team Origin announced Ainslie as skipper for the 33rd America’s Cup challenge in 2009. ISAF Ranking: 114 WMRT Ranking: Unranked

Adam Minoprio (New Zealand): Adam Minoprio, age 22 and his team Black Match Racing have achieved 1st place in the following events this year: Sopot Match Cup, Blurimini Match Race Italy and Open Match Race Austria. Other achievements include winning the 2007 Hardy Cup and the 2006 and 2007 Asian Match Race Championships. This will be his first time competing in the Bermuda Gold Cup. ISAF Ranking: 8 / WMRT Ranking: 10

Johnie Berntsson (Sweden): Berntsson Sailing Team Match Racing has competed in an impressive number of events. Some recent highlights include 2nd place in the 2008 Congressional Cup and 1st place in the 2007 GKSS Winter Cup. Other wins include the 2007 GKSS Spring Cup, 2006 WASA Match, 2005 Autumn Cup, 2005 Swedish Match Qualifier and the 2005 Spring Cup. ISAF Ranking: 13 / WMRT Ranking: 13

Mattias Rahm (Sweden): Mattias comes to Bermuda to compete for the Gold Cup for the third time. Rahm has scored first place in events including, the 2008 GKSS Match Cup Sweden, 2006 Jeep Challenge, three time winner of the Ice Breaker Cup and two time winner of the Swedish National Match Racing Championship. Mattias was the strategist for Victory Challenge for all of the races in the Louis Vuitton Cup 2007. ISAF ranking 40 / WMRT Ranking: 9