The 2021 Women’s Match Racing World Championship, featuring Olympic and America’s Cup champions, is set to take over Europe’s second-largest artificial harbour - Cherbourg-en-Cotentin in Normandy, France - from tomorrow (Thursday, 28 October).
The eight teams of four and five crew members from Finland, France, Netherlands, Sweden and UK will compete over four days of intense racing on J/80 fixed keel one-design sports boats.
The 2021 Women’s Match Racing World Championship is being hosted by Yacht Club Cherbourg, after the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron (RNZYS) - now hosts of the 2022 edition - was forced to withdraw due to pandemic-related travel restrictions.
The skippers are:
- Pauline Courtois (FRA) - Rank 1
- Anna Östling (SWE) - Rank 2
- Marinella Laaksonnen (FIN) - Rank 5
- Octavia Owen (GBR) - Rank 9
- Margot Riou (FRA) - Rank 10
- Renée Groeneveld (NED) - Rank 15
- Sanna Matsson (SWE) - Rank 21
- Kenza Coutard (FRA) - Wild Card
"World Sailing, the Match Racing World Championship and our athletes are incredibly grateful to the Yacht Club Cherbourg for stepping in as hosts in this challenging time for global sport," said Pedro Rodrigues, World Sailing Events Manager.
"We’re now looking forward to edge-of-your seat action in Cherbourg harbour, with amazing vantage points for spectators and a superstar line up of the sport’s biggest names in women’s match racing."
The Women's Match Racing Worlds is an annual event first held in Genoa, Italy in 1999. Skippers are invited to attend the Championship based on their World Sailing World Match Racing Ranking position.
The winning team at the World Sailing Women's Match Racing World Championship are crowned World Champions and presented with the Francoise Pascal Memorial - Women's Match Racing World Championship Trophy.
The trophy is named in honour of the late Francoise Pascal, a former Vice-President of the Fédération Française de Voile and a hugely influential figure in the growth of women's match racing.
The first, second and third place overall team receive World Sailing Gold, Silver and Bronze medals respectively.
In addition, the first-placed skipper following the ‘round robins’ are presented with the World Sailing Nucci Novi Ceppellini Memorial Trophy.
The trophy is named after Nucci Novi Ceppellini, World Sailing Vice-President from 1998-2008, who passed away in February 2008 after many years dedicated to sailing and specifically women's match racing.
