Britain’s Christian Hamilton led the charge into the Bermuda Gold Cup quarter-finals as a dramatic four-way tie decided the opening round-robin stage in Hamilton Harbour.
Hamilton, at the helm of Khumbu Racing, claimed eight victories from 11 matches to finish locked at the summit alongside France’s Aurélien Pierroz, Sweden’s Oskar Engström, and Denmark’s Jeppe Borch. All four skippers secured direct entry into the knockout quarter-finals.
The opening phase produced an immediate upset as top seed and World Match Racing Tour leader Chris Pool missed out on automatic qualification by a single win. The American finished fifth with seven victories, dropping into the eight-boat repechage for a final shot at reaching the last eight.
Sweden’s Anna Östling seized early momentum in the repechage, taking back-to-back wins from her opening two fixtures.
Only the top four finishers from the repechage will progress to complete the quarter-final lineup alongside Hamilton and the top seeds in the battle for the King Edward VII Gold Cup.
