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Megan Thomson underlined her status as one of the world's top match racers in Chicago, pushing France's Pauline Courtois to the brink in a thrilling final of the 2025 World Sailing Women’s Match Racing World Championship.
Courtois and her Match in Pink by Normandy Elite Team from Le Havre ultimately claimed a fifth consecutive title, but unlike last year's 3-0 whitewash in Jeddah, the French had to dig deep to overcome Thomson and her 2.0 Racing Team in a tense best-of-three final.
After Courtois opened with a win, Thomson and her crew of Tiana Wittey, Josi Andres, Charlotte Porter and Hattie Rogers hit back to level the scores in race two. The Kiwi skipper's hopes of a world crown ended in the decider, though, after two costly pre-start penalties left her unable to recover. Courtois crossed first to seal a 2-1 victory. Denmark’s Lea Richter Vogelius and her WOW Sailing team finished third.
The championship, hosted by the Chicago Yacht Club, featured 12 all-female teams from seven nations over four days of intense racing. Courtois arrived as the team to beat, having already secured world crowns in 2021 (Cherbourg), 2022 (Auckland), 2023 (Middelfart), and 2024 (Jeddah)
She again proved her class, topping the qualifying round robin with 10 wins and just one loss to Sweden’s Anna Östling/WINGS Sailing, then defeating Julia Aarsten’s Dutch Team Out of the Box 2-0 in the quarter-finals. In the semis she survived a major scare against Australia’s Juliet Costanzo/Easy Tiger Racing - even carrying a penalty to the finish in race two before a jury ruling gave her the win - but battled through 2-1 to reach the final.
"It's just incredible to win again here in Chicago," said Courtois. "Any world championship feels special, but this one was particularly challenging with the difficult conditions during the week. To defend the title for the fifth time with my team is a huge accomplishment, and I am so proud of them for this amazing win. - with Women's World Match Racing Tour
Full results here.
