Day 8 : Denmark Holds Firm, France Seniors Take Centre Stage

Team Bridge • July 4, 2026

Author

July 4, 2026

Another busy day in Riga brought two more rounds in the Open Teams and three rounds each in the Women’s, Seniors and Mixed championships. While Denmark continued to set the pace in the Open series, the most notable development came in the Seniors, where France surged into first place.

Open Teams

Denmark began the day with a lead of more than 18 VP over Norway and looked vulnerable after a modest 6.03 VP against Lithuania. However, Norway could gain only 16.26 VP against Croatia and then just 11.48 VP against Türkiye, allowing Denmark to remain comfortably ahead.

The Danes responded in the final match of the day with a convincing 16.88 VP victory over Austria to extend their advantage to 13.52 VP. Behind them, England consolidated third place despite losses to Poland and the Netherlands, while Israel overtook Switzerland to move into fourth.

France enjoyed an excellent day, scoring 18.97 VP against Portugal and 19.07 VP against Bulgaria. Those two victories lifted the French team from twelfth to tenth place, only a few VP behind the qualifying positions.

Women’s Teams

England strengthened its grip on first place with victories over Estonia and Sweden and finished the day on 176.46 VP. Sweden climbed into second place after a strong sequence of wins over Croatia, Finland and a narrow loss to England.

The Netherlands slipped from second to third, while Norway moved up from ninth at the start of the day to fourth by evening. Türkiye remained firmly in contention in fifth.

France endured a difficult day. Defeats to Israel, Türkiye and Ireland kept the team in tenth place, although the gap to the top eight remained manageable.

Senior Teams

The Seniors championship produced the biggest story of the day. France started the morning in second place, nearly 16 VP behind Denmark, but put together a remarkable run.

A massive 19.25 VP victory over Portugal was followed by a solid 6.72 VP against the Netherlands and then an emphatic 18.77 VP win over Israel. At the same time Denmark stumbled, collecting only 7.71 VP against England, 14.18 VP against Estonia and just 4.26 VP against Croatia.

By the end of the day France had moved into first place with 191.68 VP, leading Denmark by 1.24 VP. The Netherlands remained third ahead of Sweden and Türkiye.

Mixed Teams

The lead changed hands several times in the Mixed championship. Latvia started the day on top, ahead of England and Belgium, but Belgium reclaimed first place after defeating Estonia and Ireland.

England then produced a strong finish, defeating France and Finland and edging past Türkiye, to move into first place on 201.80 VP. Belgium was only 0.49 VP behind, with Latvia another 8 VP back.

France had a mixed day. A loss to England was followed by defeats to Türkiye and Spain, leaving the team in seventh place, still within striking distance of the leaders.