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    Congressional Cup semifinals get underway a day early; semis to finish Sunday, along with finals
    • May 3, 2026

    The final four of the 2026 Congressional Cup is down to three previous winners and one relative newcomer, with the semifinals, initially slated to take place on Sunday ahead of the championship match, getting started a day early.

    World No. 1 Chris Poole of America, 37, No. 2 Johnie Berntsson of Sweden, 53, defending Congressional Cup champion Eric Monnin of Switzerland, 50, who is ranked 11th in the world, and No. 3 Cole Trapper of Australia, 23, advanced to the semifinals Saturday.

    This is the 61st annual Congressional Cup regatta, widely regarded as one of the premier competitions in modern match racing. The Long Beach Yacht Club established the Congressional Cup in 1965, making it the longest-running regatta of its kind in North America. It’s known as the “granddaddy” of match racing and helped set the standard for world-class match racing across the globe.

    Each year, 10 skippers and their crews descend on Long Beach for the Congressional Cup. Eight are invited to the competition, which is part of the World Match Racing Tour season, while two qualify via the Ficker Cup, which takes place in Long Beach on the weekend preceding the Congressional Cup.

    The winner of the Congressional Cup gets to don the crimson blazer, similar to the green jacket worn by the winners of golf’s Masters tournament.

    The first four rounds of the Congressional Cup, which began Wednesday, sees each team compete against each other in a double round-robin format to determine the final four.

    Those semifinalists were determined Saturday, and there is plenty of pedigree among them.

    This is Poole’s eighth Congressional Cup, for example, and he has two crimson blazers following his back-to-back victories in 2023 and 2024. Berntsson won the Congressional Cup in 2009 and placed second four times in 16 total tries previously. And Monnin won his first crimson blazer last year and is competing in his 12th Congressional Cup.

    As for Trapper, this is his third Congressional Cup. He finished third last year.

    Typically, the semifinals and finals take place on Sunday. But because of good wind conditions Saturday, the Congressional Cup started the semifinals a day early.

    Berntsson and Monnin were matched against each other in the first of the best-of-five semifinal match races, while Poole and Trapper are going against each other in the second race.

    Berntsson and Poole each took a 2-0 lead over their respective opponents, leaving them one win away from the finals heading into Sunday.

     Orange County Register 

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