While New Zealand's involvement in the 2025 World Match Racing Tour Worlds has now concluded, the action in Shenzhen continues to draw attention well beyond the racing itself, particularly for anyone tracking the early manoeuvres ahead of the 38th America's Cup.
Nick Egnot-Johnson's campaign ended at the semi-final stage, leaving two non-Kiwi storylines to play out for a spot in the final. Ian Williams of Great Britain has already booked his place after a three-one victory over Egnot-Johnson, while Chris Poole of the United States and Oscar Engström of Sweden are locked at two-all with one race still to decide who joins Williams in the decider.
Poole currently leads the 2025 World Match Racing Tour Championship standings with 120 points from his best four matches, 144 in total, and a strong finish here would consolidate that position. He has been candid about a larger project: building a United States-backed America's Cup entry for AC38. That ambition carries particular significance given that American Magic, the incumbent US syndicate, has indicated it will not compete in 2027. Through Riptide Racing, Poole is working to establish something that operates across both worlds, the short, sharp format of match racing and the longer, more complex road toward Cup competition. His results in Shenzhen sit squarely at that intersection.
Egnot-Johnson entered Group A alongside some of the event's most formidable names, including Ian Williams, Tom Foucher of France, and Björn Hansen of Sweden, and found consistency difficult to sustain in such a tightly contested pool. Three wins and four losses gave him a 43% win rate and left him fifth in Group A, ninth overall, just outside the positions that carry automatic passage to the quarter-finals.
Defeats to Chris Poole, Aurélien Pierroz, and others meant he was funnelled into the Repechage, a phase that demands near-perfect execution from every sailor who enters it. Egnot-Johnson delivered exactly that, posting a flawless 7-0 scoreline, the only competitor in the Repechage to finish without a loss. That record transformed his standing entirely. From sitting mid-fleet after the opening stage, he emerged as the top qualifier heading into the knockout rounds.
His quarter-final draw put him against Jeppe Borch of Denmark across a five-race series. Trailing two-one and facing elimination, Egnot-Johnson won the final two races back-to-back to take the tie three-two, a result that spoke to his composure under pressure.
The semi-final brought his run to a close. Williams, among the most experienced match racers in the world, proved too consistent over the four races, winning three-one in a loss-win-loss-loss sequence for the New Zealander. One step short of the final, Egnot-Johnson's Shenzhen regatta was over.
On the 2025 Tour leaderboard Egnot-Johnson sits 13th overall, with a 36th in Macao and a 24th in Bermuda counting toward his tally. His Knots Racing crew has built a solid reputation on the international circuit, placing inside the world's top 15 in the World Sailing Match Race Rankings. Measured against the two finalists, Williams and Poole, Egnot-Johnson is the youngest of the three, with many years of competition still ahead.
