Quarter-finals set at Women’s Match Racing Worlds

Despite an earlier start, it was another long and patient day on the water for the twelve teams competing at the 2025 Women’s Match Racing World Championship hosted by Chicago Yacht Club.

Completing the qualifying round-robin in the late afternoon, the top eight teams advanced to the quarterfinals whilst the day spelled the end of the competition for the four bottom-placed skippers Celia Willison (NZL), Kristine Mauritzen (DEN), Kenza Coutard (FRA) and Martina Carlsson (SWE).

Safely through to the quarterfinals, Sweden’s Anna Östling and the Wings Sailing team secured a crucial earlier win against defending women’s match racing world champions Match in Pink Team from France, skippered by Pauline Courtois. Courtois and team had remained undefeated at a world championship since the 2024 Women’s Match Racing World Championship in Jeddah.

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As the quarter-final pairings were decided, Östling was paired with Denmark’s Lea Vogelius/ Team WOW. Courtois was paired with eighth-placed Julia Aartsen/ Team Out of the Box from the Netherlands. Aartsen and team narrowly missed leaving the competition today, but a deciding win against New Zealand’s Celia Willison secured their place in the quarters.

“Today was a tricky one for us,” added Aartsen on their return to the dock, “Shifty winds, constantly changing, and waves coming at us from every direction. We didn’t kick off the event in the way we had hoped, but little by little, we managed to find our rhythm again. We now have a tough match against Pauline [Courtois] in the quarterfinals, but we are ready to battle all the way for the win!”

The remaining two pairings see USA’s Nicole Breault/ Vela Racing against Australia’s Juliet Costanzo, and New Zealand’s Megan Thomson/ 2.0 Racing against France’s Julia D’Amodio/ Shark Caviar Team.

As the afternoon progressed, the race area was moved to a more favourable location in search of breeze, but as the wind died completely, Race Director Anne Malledant made the decision to abandon racing for the day after the first three races, which saw wins for Östling, Thomson and Courtois in their respective pairings.

The forecast for tomorrow’s final day of the world championship shows signs of an earlier breeze with the race schedule brought forward to 9am, and with the intention to conclude the quarterfinals, semi-finals and final to decide the 2025 World Sailing Women’s Match Racing World Champion.

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Racing continues tomorrow from 1030 local time.

Results after Day 3:

1 🇫🇷 Pauline Courtois 10 – 1

2 🇳🇿 Megan Thomson 9-2

3 🇦🇺 Juliet Costanzo 8-3

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4 🇸🇪 Anna Östling 7- 4

5 🇩🇰 Lea  Richter Vogelius 6.5-4

6 🇫🇷 Julia D’Amodio 5-6

7 🇺🇸 Nicole Breault 5-6

8 🇳🇱 Julia Aartsen 5-6

9 🇳🇿 Celia Willison 3-8

10 🇩🇰 Kristine Mauritzen 3-8

11 🇸🇪 Martina Carlsson 2-9

12 🇫🇷 Kenza Coutard 2-9

World Sailing Women’s Match Racing World Championship competitors;

1. Julia Aartsen, Team Out of the Box, NED
   (Crew: Eva Asbeek Brusse, Ismene Usman, Nerine Usman, Saar Van Bemmel)
2. Nicole Breault, Vela Racing, USA
   (Crew: Molly O’Bryan Vandemoer, Dana Riley Hayes, McKenzie Wilson, Hailey Thompson)
3. Martina Carlsson, Beyond Racing, SWE
   (Crew: Svea Sahlin, Amanda Ljunggren, Hanna Gaskell-Brown, Hedvig Hedström)
4. Juliet Costanzo, Easy Tiger Racing, AUS
   (Crew: Sarah Parker, Rachel Bower, Katie Pellew, Alice Parker)
5. Pauline Courtois, Match in Pink by Normandy Elite, FRA
   (Crew: Maëlenn Lemaitre, Louise Acker, Sophie Faguet, Laurane Mettraux)
6. Kenza Coutard, CKAFEW Racing Team, FRA
   (Crew: Elena Circiello-Vaillant, Amandine Le Van Jacob, Chloé Le Roux, Flavie Foucher)
7. Julia D’Amodio, Shark Caviar Team, FRA
   (Crew: Alice Chiappori, Valentine Lauret, Roxane Perrot, Manon Pennanec’h)
8. Kristine Mauritzen, Those Seagulls, DEN
   (Crew: Emilie Nordby, Katrine Ejlev, Maria Reinhold, Julia Toroi)
9. Megan Thomson, 2.0 Racing, NZL
   (Crew: Tiana Wittey, Josi Andres, Charlotte Porter, Hattie Rogers)
10. Lea Richter Vogelius, Team WOW, DEN
    (Crew: Joan Hansen, Annette Srøm, Anne Sofie Munk-Hansen, Josefine Boel Rasmussen)
11. Celia Willison, Edge Women’s Match, NZL
    (Crew: Clare Costanzo, Phoebe Buckland, Serena Woodall, Ruby Scholten)
12. Anna Östling, WINGS Sailing, SWE
    (Crew: Linnéa Wennergren, Annie Saeedfar Wennergren  Annika Carlunger, Karin Knigge)

LEARN MORE: https://womenswmrt.com/quarter-finals-set-at-womens-match-racing-worlds/