A Kiwi skipper will line up against the world's best when the 2026 World Sailing Women's Match Racing World Championship gets underway on San Francisco Bay this October.
St Francis Yacht Club will host the invitation-only event, bringing together 12 skippers from seven nations and ten yacht clubs. All 12 sit inside the top 18 on World Sailing's Women's Match Racing Rankings.
New Zealand's representative is Megan Thomson, skippering her 2.0 Racing team out of the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron. Thomson finished second at last year's world championship and currently sits tenth on the Women's World Match Racing Tour leaderboard. She'll race with Maddie Rist and Tinka Visser, though the team is working through a late crew change, with a fourth sailor to be confirmed.
Defending champion Pauline Courtois of France gets the automatic invite that comes with winning. Her Match in Pink by Normandy Elite Team has now taken five consecutive world titles. Courtois sits top of the world rankings and will sail with Maëlenn Lemaitre, Louise Acker and Laurane Mettraux, representing Club de Voile Saint-Aubin Elbeuf.
France has strength in depth this time round. Julia D'Amodio's Shark Caviar Team, representing Pôle Inshore Sud, was sixth at last year's worlds and is eighth on the current WWMRT standings, racing with Alice Chiappori, Lilou Ruat and Roxane Perrot. Lucie Gout's L4C Racing Team, representing APCC Voile Sportive and ranked 18th by World Sailing, rounds out the French contingent, with crew Flavie Foucher, Clarisse Baissac and Lomane Valade.
Sweden brings two strong crews. Anna Östling's WINGS squad currently top the 2026 WWMRT leaderboard after finishing fifth at last year's championship, while Martina Carlsson's Beyond Racing Team sits second on the tour after an 11th-place finish in 2025. Both hail from Royal Gothenburg Yacht Club.
The Dutch and Danish flags are also flying. Julia Aartsen's Team Out of the Box, representing Royal Netherlands Yacht Club, is third on the WWMRT after an eighth-place worlds finish last year. Denmark's Kristine Marie Mauritzen and her Those Seagulls crew, from Royal Danish Yacht Club, sit ninth on tour after finishing tenth at last year's worlds.
Australia's Juliet Costanzo, fourth at last year's worlds and ranked 14th globally, will race for Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club with a crew that includes Stacey Jackson, Sarah Parker and Katie Spithill.
All three American entries come from California. Allie Blecher's Team BAAM! sails for California Yacht Club, currently seventh on the WWMRT. StFYC's own Lindsey Baab, selected as the host nation's pick by StFYC and US Sailing, leads Fog Racing, sitting 13th on both the tour and world rankings. And Nicole Breault, last year's US Women's Match Racing champion, seventh at the 2025 worlds and third overall on the 2025 WWMRT, will race for StFYC itself.
Breault, for one, is relishing the home advantage.
"I'm always happy when these awesome teams come to play in my backyard because I'm excited to take them on where I'm comfortable and where I have that home-water advantage," she said. "But at the same time, having played against them, they always bring it, and it's always a tough competition."
StFYC Race Director Felix Weidling doesn't expect an easy regatta for anyone.
"When you bring together sailors of this caliber, you can expect extremely competitive racing and very few easy matches," he said. "Women's sailing deserves top visibility, recognition and support across our sport, and hosting the 2026 World Sailing Women's Match Racing World Championship is St. Francis Yacht Club's way of contributing to that mission while showcasing some of the sport's most talented sailors."
Racing gets underway on Thursday 1 October at 1030 hours, with Thomson carrying New Zealand hopes into a fleet where no result looks settled in advance.
