Bermuda are within striking distance of securing their spot in the gold fleet after two days of racing at the 2026 Team Racing World Championship in Stockholm, Sweden.

The island’s eight-strong contingent are presently seventh among the 12-strong fleet with eight wins and seven losses under their belt.

The top six teams at the completion of the qualifying series will advance to the final races in the gold fleet, where this year’s team racing champion will be crowned.

“Overall it’s been a good event so far sitting in contention to make gold fleet, which is what we set out to do from the start,” Bermuda co-skipper Joshua Greenslade told The Royal Gazette.

Bermuda’s sailors kept their hopes of reaching the gold fleet alive after producing a 3-2 record, competing in the J80 class in light air conditions on the waters of Riddarfjärden today.

They got the day off to another shaky start after losing their final race in the first round of qualifying to defending champions USA 2.

However, they rebounded superbly with back-to-back victories against Denmark and Japan to start the second round of qualifying on the front foot.

Bermuda’s confidence was further boosted after upstaging defending champions USA 2 in the second meeting of the day between the nations to avenge the earlier loss and improve their overall record to 7-7.

However, their day would come full circle after losing to hosts Sweden before a wind shift and fading breeze brought racing to a grinding halt.

“Today was overall a good day,” Greenslade said.

“Despite the two losses, our starts were better by not putting ourselves in a hole, and we felt more confident.”

Bermuda’s victory against the defending champions the second time around was hard fought.

“We had an incredible race against Corinthian [USA 2] the second time,” team co-skipper Alan Frith said.

“Held a 2-3 combo for three-fourths of the race before eventually getting an opportunity to convert to a 1-2 at the last windward mark and sail away for the win.”

Greenslade is the skipper of Boat 1, whose crew also includes Amelia Lewis, Aiden Young and Emily Davis.

Frith is will be at the helm of Boat 2 competing alongside Cecilia Wollman, Samantha Dill and Sebastian Round.

Bermuda finished tenth of the twelve teams at last year’s Team Racing World Championship in Newport, Rhode Island.

USA 1 and USA 2 lead the way in Stockholm with 35 races remaining in the qualifying series to determine which six teams will advance to the business end of the championship.