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After rounding Skagen in match race style and almost losing the lead to the hunting pack, ASSA ABLOY kept a cool head all the way to Gothenburg. At the Turbaduren light that marks the entrance into the Gothenburg archipelago ASSA ABLOY, Tyco, illbruck and News Corp were still within a mile of each other. Amer Sports One a mile further back managed to get in phase with the wind shifts, was able to sail a shorter distance to the next waypoint and once again was in direct contact with the leaders.

Eventually leg eight of the Volvo Ocean Race was decided in the last two miles of the 1000+ miles the yachts sailed from La Rochelle to Gothenburg.

ASSA ABLOY's victory has kept the overall winner of the Volvo Ocean Race open to the ultimate leg from Sweden to Germany. If ASSA ABLOY wins the next leg, illbruck must not finish worse than fifth to secure overall victory.

When the first five boats came into sight of Gothenburg, literally hundreds of spectator boats went out to welcome the fleet. Among them there was even a 505 racing dinghy with the spinnaker up in the dark. In Eriksberg, the part of Gothenburg where the Volvo Ocean Race village is located, sailing fans fill the piers to welcome their local heroes. Even though a Swedish team won, British skippers claim first and third and on the second placed Tyco a third of the crew originates from the UK.

Less than an hour after the winner, a disappointed crew on the green racing yacht SEB crossed the finish line in sight of their home base in Gothenburg. After the arrival, Gurra Krantz, the unlucky skipper said on the dock: "The last two days have been very frustrating. I don't know why. It doesn't seem to be our regatta somehow! Instead of bouncing the ball in between the goal posts, we are bouncing out all the time." With eleven points behind the three boats sharing 40 points, SEB cannot better their overall position on the last leg. Djuice is just four points behind and could snatch sixth place from SEB.

Another two and a half hours passed until djuice crossed the line. All hopes for a parking place for the leaders remained hopes and the crew around skipper Knut Frostad had to accept the inevitable fate of seventh place. "We tried hard, but basically we were not fast enough. We've seen it a lot of times now, it is not new. It's tough," Knut admitted on the dock, continuing "Although I regret that we didn't have light wind, I was praying, "please God give us some light wind". With fourteen points on Amer Sports Too, they cannot finish the Volvo Ocean Race in last position.

Meanwhile, the girls in Amer Sport Too still have over 60 miles to run to the finish, and should be in mid morning today.

Position	Yacht	Leg 3 points	Elapsed Time	Combined Time	PO	Overall
1	AART	8	004d 07h 06m 38s	126d 05h 01m 06s	49	2
2	TYCO	7	004d 07h 08m 54s	----	40	3
3	NEWS	6	004d 07h 10m 34s	125d 13h 37m 04s	40	3
4	ILBK	5	004d 07h 11m 55s	122d 00h 53m 39s	54	1
5	AONE	4	004d 07h 13m 28s	123d 04h 25m 05s	40	3
6	TSEB	3	004d 07h 57m 50s	----	29	6
7	DJCE	2	004d 10h 19m 58s	131d 02h 41m 45s	25	7

At 08:00h Amer Sports Too had 16 miles to reach the finish