France wins battle in Marstrand fjord

France’s Pauline Courtois/ Match in Pink by Normandy won the 2025 Nordea Women’s Trophy, held June 30-July 5 in Marstrand, Sweden. As the fourth stage of the Women’s World Match Racing Tour, eight teams raced the Fareast 28R keelboats, with this being the second time a French skipper has won the since Claire Leroy’s victory in 2008.

Sweden’s Anna Östling was the clear favorite to defend for the seventh time, but it was the Dutch team Out of the Box led by skipper Julia Aartsen who managed to topple the Swedish champions in a gritty five-match semi-final and advance to the final against France’s Pauline Courtois who had earlier dispatched Martina Carlsson (SWE).

In the first-to-two-point final, however, Aartsen and crew knew they were going to have their work cut out going up against defending women’s match racing world champions. With a building breeze and surprise squalls on the Marstrand fjord, Courtois’s team won both matches to clinch the title.

Tour information – Event details – Results

Women’s World Match Racing Tour 2025 Schedule
Stage 1. Casa Vela Cup – San Francisco, CA: May 28-31
Stage 2. Santa Maria Cup – Annapolis, MD: June 4-7
Stage 3. Normandy Match Cup – Le Havre, France: June 6-9
Stage 4. Nordea Women’s Trophy – Marstrand, Sweden: June 30-July 5
Stage 5. Women’s Match Racing World Championship – Chicago, IL:  September 17-20
Stage 6. Bermuda Women’s Match Race – Hamilton, Bermuda: October 21-26

The Women’s World Match Racing Tour was launched in 2022 to continue the hugely successful legacy of the WIM Series (Women’s International Match Racing Series) providing a global match racing series for female sailors. The name of the series was re-launched as the Women’s World Match Racing Tour with its continued mission to expand and strengthen global match racing and promote opportunities for competitive women’s sailing at every level. The Women’s World Match Racing Tour is the world’s first and only professional sailing series for women providing a valuable pathway for aspiring female world champions in the sport of sailing.

Details: https://womenswmrt.com/