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New Zealand teams experienced mixed fortunes on day three of the Women's Match Racing World Championship in Chicago, with Megan Thomson's 2.0 Racing moving safely into the quarter-finals while Celia Willison's Edge Women’s Match saw their campaign come to an early end.
After a third day of unseasonably light airs on Lake Michigan, the qualifying round-robin stage concluded, advancing the top eight teams to the quarter-finals. France's Pauline Courtois and her Match in Pink team topped the standings with 10 wins and just one loss.
Despite an earlier start, it was another long and patient day on the water for the 12 teams. Willison was among four skippers eliminated at the close of qualifying, along with Denmark’s Kristine Mauritzen, France’s Kenza Coutard and Sweden’s Martina Carlsson. A deciding win by the Netherlands' Julia Aartsen over Willison secured the Dutch team the final quarter-final berth.
Megan Thomson will face Julia D’Amodio’s French Shark Caviar Team in the quarter-finals. Photos / Hannah Lee Noll
Safely through, Sweden's Anna Östling and the Wings Sailing team claimed a crucial win against Courtois - the first time the French skipper had been beaten at a world championship since Jeddah in 2024. Östling will now face Denmark’s Lea Vogelius (Team WOW) in the knockout stage, while Courtois is paired with Aartsen.
The other quarter-final pairings see the United States' Nicole Breault (Vela Racing) up against Australia’s Juliet Costanzo, and Thomson 2.0 Racing taking on Julia D’Amodio’s French Shark Caviar Team.
The session finished with three races completed before the wind died completely, forcing organisers to abandon further racing. Wins were recorded by Östling, Courtois and Thomson in their respective pairings.
Racing is scheduled to resume tomorrow with an earlier start time of 9am (local time), when the remaining quarter-finals, semi-finals and final will be sailed to crown the 2025 Women’s Match Racing World Champion. - with Women's World Match Racing Tour
Full results here.
