Four teams have secured their semi-final places at the 2026 Team Racing World Championship in Stockholm, pulling clear of the field by early afternoon on Saturday. The Race Committee confirmed the remaining standings could not change that outcome.
One race is still unfinished. The round robin between Ireland and New Zealand was postponed when the wind died late in the afternoon and will be sailed Sunday morning, ahead of the King of the Castle series that decides places five through 12 among the remaining eight teams. New Zealand's interest in that postponed result will be noted by Kiwi followers tracking Stockholm closely.
Saturday tested patience before it tested sailing. Racing was delayed more than two hours while the Race Committee waited out patchy, unstable breeze, with the starting signal for Race 97 finally sounding around midday. Shifts ranging up to 30 to 40 degrees and pressure swinging from near-zero to gusts of 5 to 7 m/s made consistent racing nearly impossible. By late afternoon the breeze had died completely.
When New Zealand did race, they gave the crowd something to talk about. Their battle against USA 2 ran so long that Denmark and Australia sailed the following race to completion while those two were still locked in combat.
USA 2 head into the final day on top of the overall standings. Skipper Will Bailey was measured about where things stand. "We had a decent day. We won some races, we lost some races, but ultimately I think we're still in contention."
Sweden are the hosts' best hope, though they only just made it. They ended the round robin level on points with Bermuda, each having won one of their head-to-head meetings, with the tiebreaker coming down to who won the final encounter between them. Sweden did. Team leader Fabian Bergman could barely contain his relief. "We are incredibly happy. It has been a rollercoaster today. When we came ashore, we could hardly believe the result. We have beaten our target and are looking forward to some exciting final races." He added that fifth place is not out of reach.
The Finland versus Bermuda race was one of the day's longer battles and, in the end, one of its crueller ones. Finland held a 1-2 for much of the contest, gave a poor rounding that let Bermuda back in, then recovered through a penalty to regain the lead. On the final downwind leg, new pressure filled from behind and the Bermudan boats found it first. In those near-windless conditions, that was enough. Lucas Karlemo put it plainly: "We had the cards and the opportunity to win it, but unfortunately we didn't quite manage it. When the wind is that light and you're almost standing still, the difference in speed becomes huge very quickly."
The championship's most unlikely story belongs to Peter Warrer. The 73-year-old Danish skipper is a two-time Optimist World Champion and father of Olympic gold medallist Jonas Warrer, with six decades on the water behind him. The oldest competitor in Stockholm, he came here with no team racing background at all. His take: "I am so motivated by this. Oh my God, this is really fantastic."
After 131 completed races across three days, the medals are still wide open.
