Swedish Match Tour - Another Stellar Line Up Readies For Danish Open

STAMFORD, CT, USA (August 8, 2003) – Seven America’s Cup veterans, two local skippers and a new force on the match racing scene headline the early roster of skippers for Danish Open 2003, the first event on Swedish Match Tour 2003/2004, August 13 – 17, at the KDY/SKS Match Race Center on Skovshoved Harbor, north of Copenhagen.

The two remaining skippers, the top Dane and top international finisher, will be added following this weekend’s Petit Danish Open qualifier. Among those competing at the Petit Danish Open is Australian Peter Gilmour of Team Pizza La, a three-time world match racing champion and head of the OneWorld Challenge.

Leading the confirmed list are Denmark’s Jesper Radich, recently crowned Swedish Match Tour 2002/2003 champion; Jes Gram-Hansen of Denmark, the defending event champion; and Sweden’s Magnus Holmberg of Team StoraEnso who won the regatta in 2000 and 2001, but was unable to compete last year due to his America’s Cup commitments with the Victory Challenge.

Also competing at Danish Open 2003 are two frequent competitors on the world’s premier professional sailing series, Poland’s Karol Jablonski of the Jablonski Sailing Team, runner-up at last month’s Swedish Match Cup, who finished fifth on Swedish Match Tour 2002/2003 and Italy’s Paolo Cian of the Riviera di Rimini Sailing Team, former helmsman of the Mascalzone Latino America’s Cup challenge and eighth place finisher on Swedish Match Tour 2002/2003.

Five more America’s Cup veterans dialing up in the event-supplied DS 37 Match Racers next week will be Denmark’s Jesper Bank, helmsman for the Victory Challenge and runner-up to Holmberg at Danish Open 2001; Luc Pillot formerly a member of the Le Defi Areva afterguard and a familiar face on the Swedish Match Tour; Great Britain’s Andy Beadsworth of Team Henri Lloyd, helmsman for the GBR Challenge in Auckland; sailing legend Roy Heiner, the “Flying Dutchman,” a member of the Oracle BMW Racing Team, competing at his first Swedish Match Tour event; and American Kelvin Harrap who has not competed on the Swedish Match Tour in two years, but is a two-time America’s Cup competitor, most recently part of the OneWorld Challenge for America’s Cup 2003, and an accomplished ocean racer with two Around the World campaigns on his resume.

For all the latest news from the Danish Open, including this weekend’s qualifiers visit www.swedishmatchtour.com.

About the Swedish Match Tour

· The Swedish Match Tour is comprised of nine of the world's leading professional sailing events and is proving to be the ultimate battleground of sailing.
· In addition to more than US$800,000 in individual event prize money, the Swedish Match Tour awards US$200,000 to the top eight sailors on the Swedish Match Tour, with the first-place skipper netting US$60,000.
· In addition to a US$60,000 first prize, the winner of the Swedish Match Tour receives the official Swedish Match Tour Championship Trophy, 15" (30 cm) high with 22 carat gold gilding, produced by Swedish Match Tour sponsor Wedgwood. Additionally, Wedgwood supplies runner-up prizes for second and third places as well as commemorative plaques to each event organizer.
· The Swedish Match Tour produces 155 hours of television coverage reaching more than 426 million households worldwide annually.
· Swedish Match Tour partners include Swedish Match, Octagon and the Match Race Association.
· Swedish Match Tour sponsors include Colorcraft, Champagne Mumm, Musto and Wedgwood.