Youth Match Racing Worlds 2026 – powered by Bunker One - at Middelfart, Denmark - Day 1
by Mick Anderson 22 Jun 22:32 PDT
21-25 June 2026
The Youth Match Racing Worlds 2026 got off to an impressive start, with the opening day featuring 12 hours on the water and no fewer than 16 flights of top-level racing.
A beautiful weather forecast promises sunshine, high temperatures and almost no wind in the coming days. For most people, that sounds close to perfect. But for the organisers of the Youth Match Racing Worlds 2026 - powered by Bunker One, taking place in Middelfart this week, the light winds could create major challenges.
"We all love good weather, but we are a little concerned that the weather may simply become too good over the next few days. If the forecast proves right, we risk not having enough wind to race. That is why the race committee, sailors and umpires had a tough, hot and very long day on the Little Belt," says Søren Laugesen, event director at GoSail.
The first sailors headed out on the water at 8.30 this morning, while the last teams returned ashore at 20.30. The aim was to complete as many races as possible before the wind potentially disappears later in the week.
"Today was definitely one of the longest days I have ever spent on the water racing. It is hard to stay mentally sharp for that many hours. You really had to remember to drink enough, and by the end of the day I was pretty cooked, which unfortunately affected our results," says Mathias Rossing, one of the two Danish skippers competing at the World Championship.
Rossing is sailing with an international crew, and they started the day strongly with four wins and just one loss. But in the second rotation things went wrong, and the team suffered three defeats late in the day, much to Rossing's frustration.
"We actually handled the difficult conditions quite well this morning, when the wind was more unstable and the current running across the course caused problems for many of our opponents. So it is frustrating to end the day on a slightly disappointing note after the breeze picked up," says a disappointed Mathias Rossing, who has five wins from eight races.
That leaves him two wins behind France's Marin Micoulot and Australia's Daniel Kemp, who currently top the leaderboard.
Heatwave and no wind
A full round robin has not yet been completed, but the 16 flights sailed on the opening day provide an important buffer in case the wind drops out completely and racing has to be postponed later in the week.
"Tough first day of the event. It was a really long day with plenty of windshifts and a lot of strong cúrrent in the race area. It was really hard to stay focused at the end of the day," Slovakian skipper Christopher Oben said, while packing up the boat at around 20.30.
He and his crew were busy getting the boat sorted and grabbing dinner before heading straight to bed.
Following the long opening day, the event organisers have decided to postpone Tuesday's first start by one hour to give everyone a better chance to recover overnight.
If the weather gods behave, the remainder of the round robin flights will be sailed on Tuesday. After that, the forecast shows very little wind as temperatures continue to rise over the coming days.
That could create challenges for the completion of the World Championship, but today's long day on the water has at least increased the chances of getting the event across the finish line.
The finals are scheduled for Thursday, when the new junior match racing world champion will hopefully be crowned.
Provisional Results after Day 1: