Stena Match Cup Sweden - Mathieu Richard gets first Wild Card

by Fabian Bengtsson on 15 May 2013 The 2013 Stena Match Cup Sweden is approaching and now, Mathieu Richard has received one of two Wild Card invitations two the Open Class. The French sailor and his team reached the finals at Marstrand in 2009 and Richard has previously been ranked as the best match race skipper in the world.

Mathieu Richard is not one of the eight skippers with a Tour Card to the 2013 edition of the Alpari World Match Racing Tour. Nevertheless, by getting invitations to several events such as Match Race Germany starting tomorrow, his team will still be contenders to look out for this season. Now Mathieu Richard has also received a Wild Card entry to compete in Stena Match Cup Sweden in July.

'With 12 teams in the regatta I feared it would be difficult to get an entry and I feel very lucky to get a Wild Card to Stena Match Cup. It’s great for the team to do events and now we are aiming for good results in the regattas leading up to Marstrand so we are warmed up to perform there as well,' says Mathieu Richard.

With a new sponsor backing the team this season, Richard and his GEFCO Match Racing Team were hoping to get a Tour Card for 2013, which would secure their participation in all the events on the Tour. Although disappointed about not being among the chosen teams, they instead aimed at getting Wild Card invitations, and so far they have secured participation in Germany, Korea, Sweden and Bermuda. Richard has impressive merits and in 2009 he was ranked as the number one skipper in the world.

'The level is obviously very high on the Tour and since the majority of the skippers with Tour Cards were on the circuit last year, they know very well how things work and they have a lot of experience. They are all good teams and obviously the best one is Ian Williams, he will be very hard to beat,' says Richard who has reached the semi-finals at Marstrand twice, losing to Peter Gilmour in the final 2009.

Mathieu Richard is one of two skippers who will enter Stena Match Cup Sweden with a Wild Card and who the other skipper is will be revealed the coming weeks. Also, two teams will qualify to the event by competing in the GKSS Spring Cup on the 25-26 of May, both the best international team and the best Swedish team in the regatta will win a ticket to compete at Marstrand. Stena Match Cup Sweden also features a Women’s Class and the teams competing will be revealed shortly.

Skipper Line-Up Stena Match Cup Sweden 2013:

Ian Williams (GBR)
Björn Handen (SVE)
Phil Robertson (NZL)
Keith Swinton (AUS)
Pierre-Antoine Morvan (FRA)
Johnie Berntsson (SVE)
Taylor Canfied (USA)
Adam Minoprio (NZL)

Wild Card 1 - Mathieu Richard (FRA)
Wild Card 2 - To be announced

International qualifier Spring Cup - Anounced May 26th
Swedish qualifier Spring Cup - Anounced May Stena Match Cup Sweden