Chris Poole and Christian Hamilton will contest the Bermuda Gold Cup final, with neither sailor having won the regatta before.
Poole, representing the USA, booked his spot with a 3-1 quarter-final win over Sweden's Oscar Engstrom, then repeated the scoreline against Denmark's Jeppe Borch in the semis. It is his first Bermuda Gold Cup final after several near misses at the regatta.
"The Bermuda Gold Cup is what I would call one of the big three on the world match racing tour with Congressional Cup and Match Cup in Sweden," Poole said. "We've managed to make the finals of those two and do well with those but this one's eluded me. It's a tricky venue with lots of shifts and I think it's testament to the guys around me on the boat that are keeping me calm and that's what is translating into good boat speed and decision making."
Poole has clashed with umpires more than once this week, and he says the fix has been mental, not tactical.
"I've really focused on trying to keep calm and level-headed. Earlier in the week I was a bit fiery and now I'm dialling in the mental focus and getting myself in the right head space."
Christian Hamilton's path to the final looks even more remarkable given he is barely two years into his match racing career. The British sailor beat Eric Monnin 3-0 in the quarters before grinding past Aurelien Pierroz 3-2 in a semi-final that went the distance.
"If you had told me two years ago that I would be in the final of the 2026 Bermuda Gold Cup, I would not have believed you," Hamilton said. "I've been really lucky with the team that I've had and they've been brilliant. Clearly they are super experienced but they've also been able to coach me through the last couple of years, so every time we've been racing we've been able to get a bit stronger, which has led to today."
Hamilton has no special plans for Poole in the final, either. He intends simply to enjoy having got there.
"I'm just going to have a beer, relax, chill out and enjoy the fact that we've got to the final," he said. "I'm going to relax in tomorrow and hopefully do the same again."
Sweden's Johnnie Berntsson, meanwhile, is processing the end of a remarkable run. His bid for a fourth consecutive win, and sixth overall, finished in the quarter-finals with a 3-0 defeat to Borch.
"Borch and his team sailed better than us today," Berntsson said. "You have to be on your top to win and this week we struggled to get there. We were going up and down and they were a couple of levels better than us. You could see they were much smoother in their boat handling and we definitely need a little more practice in these boats."
