Francesca Clapcich has made offshore sailing history, becoming the first woman to win the IMOCA Globe Series after a gruelling solo crossing of the Atlantic in the Route du Rhum.
The Italian-American sailor, racing aboard 11th Hour Racing, crossed the finish line off Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe, at 19:41 local time on Thursday, November 12 — 00:41 UTC on Friday — after 11 days, 11 hours, 39 minutes and 9 seconds at sea, covering 3,954 nautical miles in her very first solo Atlantic crossing.
Her eighth-place finish in the Route du Rhum – Destination Guadeloupe sealed the championship with 466 points, 36 clear of two-time previous winner Sam Goodchild of Great Britain and France, on 430. France’s Elodie Bonafous finished third on 388 points.
“It’s the first time that a woman has won the IMOCA Globe Series and I’m super proud of that achievement,” Clapcich said on arriving at the pontoons in Guadeloupe. “It just showcases what women’s sport is really about these days.”
The title is the crowning moment of a remarkable first season in the IMOCA circuit for Clapcich. She opened the year with fifth place in the solo 1000 Race, followed by another fifth in the solo Vendée Arctique, then led an international, 50/50 gender-balanced crew to second place in The Ocean Race Atlantic from New York to Lorient, France — the only crewed race of the season — before the Défi Azimut and the Route du Rhum.
Born in Trieste, Italy, Clapcich competed at two Olympic Games, in London 2012 and Rio 2016, before turning to offshore sailing. She won The Ocean Race 2022-23 with 11th Hour Racing Team, becoming the first Italian to lift that trophy, and in early 2025 she announced her ambition to take on the 2028 Vendée Globe, the solo round-the-world race.
The scale of the breakthrough is clear in the record books: the highest championship ranking previously achieved by a woman was third place, earned by Switzerland’s Justine Mettraux in 2024. This year, two women stood on the IMOCA Globe Series podium, with Bonafous joining Clapcich in third.
Clapcich was one of three female IMOCA skippers in the Route du Rhum fleet, which featured 11 women among its 22 sixty-foot boats, and she is the first Italian woman — and the first American woman — to compete in the famous transatlantic race.
“To have two women on the IMOCA Globe Series podium this year, I hope acts as an inspiration to others for many years to come,” said Antoine Mermod, president of the IMOCA Class.
For women’s sport, it is another barrier broken on the open ocean — and for Clapcich, the first major title of a career now pointed firmly at the Vendée Globe.
Photo: IMOCA Globe Series. Illustration: The Voice of Women Sport
