Match racing tours postpone finale

While the riches of the Middle East attracted the World Match Racing Tour and Women’s World Match Racing Tour to host their final events of the season, the volatility in the region has now required a postponement. Due to deadly missile strikes at Saudi Arabia’s Riyadh airport by Yemen’s Iran-allied Houthis, the tours have postponed these events in AMAALA until January 2027.

It was January 2026 when it was announced how the tour  finales would be held in Saudi Arabia, and it appeared to be all system go in August 2026 with the release of the Notice of Race.  The 2026 Women’s World Match Racing Tour Final was to be November 2-7, followed by the World Match Racing Tour Final on November 9-14.

The winners of the Finals would be crowned 2026 Match Racing World Champions by World Sailing. However, despite the venue being on the “safer side” of the Arabian Peninsula, along the Red Sea as opposed to the Persian Gulf, safe is a relative word in the Middle East these days. The airport, 830 miles from AMAALA, is a major hub for international travel.

The plan is for racing in J/70s, and would be the first time the final of the Women’s World Match Racing Tour, launched in 2022, will be staged back-to-back with the Open World Match Racing Tour Final. Both events will also offer a $200,000 prize purse, with the women’s event representing the largest prize ever offered for an all-female sailing event.

Details: Open Tour – Women’s Tour

Founded in 2000, the World Match Racing Tour promotes the sport of match racing around the world and is the longest running global professional series in the sport of sailing. The winner of the WMRT each year is crowned the Match Racing World Champion.

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), which began in 2013 to provide a global match racing series for female sailors.

Source: WMRT