Issue date
By RNZYS
The Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron's Megan Thomson and her 2.0 Racing crew - Josi Andres, Anna Merchant, Charlotte Porter and Tiana Wittey- have claimed an impressive second place at the 2024 World Sailing women’s match racing world Cchampionship, held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
The event, which took place over four days, included three round robins, semifinals, and a final race in Fareast 28 keelboats, with six teams participating.
Thomson, a Mastercard Youth Training Programme graduate, finished the round robins in third place, advancing to the semifinals where she faced world number two Anna Östling in a thrilling best-of-five series. Despite not taking a win from Östling in the round-robin stage, Thomson triumphed 3-2, securing her spot in the final.
In the final, Thomson and her team faced world number one and reigning champion Pauline Courtois. While Thomson and her team put in a strong performance, Courtois proved dominant throughout the regatta and secured the title with a 3-0 victory, finishing with a perfect 100% win rate across the event.
"It’s been an amazing regatta, I’m so proud of my team, we really gave it 100% every day and to come away with second in such a competitive fleet is a great achievement," Thomson said.
“A big congratulations to all the competitors, especially Pauline and her crew, who are truly world-class. We had an amazing time racing against them.”
Thomson also expressed her gratitude to her teammates: "I’d like to thank my teammates for making the tremendous effort to be here. I also want to extend my thanks to our supporters and sponsors, including the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, Magic Marine, and all of our partners who made this journey possible.”
Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron is proud of the partnership with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) Team helmed by Sumaya Bamakhrama.
This partnership saw current Mastercard Youth Training Programme sailors Ella Arnold, Madison Rist & Alissa Marshall join Sumaya Bamakhrama & Shahad Nour for the event. While team KSA didn’t chalk up a win throughout the round robins, the Saudi sailors gained valuable experience against world-class sailors.
