Jakub Gołębiowski wins the World Cup in Szczecin!
Jakub Gołębiowski and the HRM Racing crew won the Szczecin Match Race and became the Polish Match Racing Champions for the fourth consecutive time. Second place in the regatta went to Lucas Karlemo’s crew from Finland, while Marek Stańczyk and Energa Giżycka Grupa Regatowa took third place and the silver medals of the Polish Championship. The bronze medals of the Polish Championship were won by Patryk Zbroja’s crew (Yacht Klub Polski Szczecin).
Held since 2008, the Szczecin Match Race is part of the World Match Racing Tour and simultaneously constitutes the Open Polish Match Racing Championship. Over the years, the competition has featured top skippers from the World Sailing rankings, including 7-time World Champion Ian Williams, European Champions Staffan Lindberg and Eric Monnin, and top SailGP skippers Nicolai Sehested and Phil Robertson. This year’s edition saw the participation of as many as 15 crews from eight countries.
High-Stakes Round Robin and Quarterfinals
The regatta began with a classic Round Robin, a series of everyone-plays-everyone matches, after which the crew with the highest number of victories advanced directly to the semifinals, and the remaining crews from places 2 to 7 earned passes to the quarterfinals. As many as 105 matches were sailed from Thursday to Saturday, during which the crews had to present themselves in various weather conditions, with winds ranging from a few to even 50 kilometers per hour.
The main round was dominated by two Poles – Jakub Gołębiowski and Marek Stańczyk, who both won 12 out of 14 matches, but Gołębiowski was better in their direct encounter, so he advanced directly to the semifinals. Third position was taken by the excellently performing Finn Lucas Karlemo with 11 victories, and fourth by the Dutchman Lennard Bal with 9 wins. The quarterfinal lineup was also completed by Micoulot (France), Sepp (Estonia), and Zbroja (Poland) – all tied with 8 match wins to their credit.
Exactly the same number of victories was also achieved by 7-time Polish Champion Przemysław Tarnacki and Karol Górski, who was returning to match racing after over a decade – both won 8 races. The fact that they did not advance had to be decided by additional tie-breaking rules, i.e., the results of direct matches.
In the quarterfinal played on Saturday afternoon, the fate of the first color of the Polish Championship medal was decided – Patryk Zbroja, after a series of mistakes, lost the match to Karlemo 0:3 and ended his participation in the Szczecin Match Race 2026 with bronze in the Polish classification. Marek Stańczyk confidently defeated the Estonian Mati Sepp (3:0), and the highest-seeded Frenchman Marin Micoulot, from whom Lennard Bal “snatched” only one race, also advanced to the semifinals.
Dramatic Semifinal Duels
Waiting for rivals in the semifinals, Gołębiowski had the right to choose his opponent – he bet on the 7th after the eliminations, Micoulot. The latter, however, surprised the HRM crew and the fans, defeating the Polish favorite twice at the start of the duel. Gołębiowski, however, managed to reverse the fate of the rivalry, winning races number 3, 4, and the decisive 5.
The second semifinal was equally fierce. The Finn Karlemo quickly took a 2:0 lead after winning the first two matches. Stańczyk showed great fighting spirit, triumphing in the third and fourth races, which allowed him to level the score. In the decisive fifth clash, after two penalties for the Pole, Karlemo proved faster, winning the entire match 3:2 and checking into the final.
A Tense Final Encounter
The final of the Szczecin Match Race 2026 promised to be a one-sided spectacle – Gołębiowski confidently won two matches in a row and was heading for the finish line in the lead in the third, when on the last leg of the course Karlemo spotted a strong squall, tacked faster and overtook the Pole right on the finish line.
At 2 to 1, Gołębiowski kept an eye on his rival and left him no illusions, winning the last race with a safe advantage. Stańczyk managed to secure third place in the regatta, defeating Micoulot 2 to 1 in the duel for bronze.
Szczecin Match Race 2026, 7-11th October, Szczecin:
- POL Jakub Gołębiowski
- FIN Lucas Karlemo
- POL Marek Stańczyk
- FRA Marin Micoulot
- NED Lennard Bal
- EST Mati Sepp
- POL Patryk Zbroja
- POL Przemysław Tarnacki
- POL Karol Górski
- POL Michał Gryglewski
- POL Michał Krasodomski
- DEN Victor Melchior
- SWE Aleksander Brorsson
- GBR George Gillespie
- SWE Elin Sevedag
Regatta Partners: West Pomerania, City of Szczecin, Centrum Żeglarskie in Szczecin, Harken, and the Polish Sailing League.
The Polish Match Tour is a match racing regatta series organized in Poland since 2007 by MT Partners, the Towarzystwo Żeglarstwa Regatowego, and the Polski Klub Regatowy, in cooperation with the Polish Yachting Association, the West Pomeranian Regional Yachting Association, and Yacht Klub Polski Szczecin.
Photos by Bartosz Modelski / polishmatch.pl
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