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On this day in 2005: Ellen MacArthur smashes round the world sailing record

Macarthur completed her solo voyage in 71 days, 14 hours, 18 minutes and 33 seconds on february 7, 2005., article bookmarked.

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Yachtswoman Dame Ellen MacArthur smashed the record for the fastest single-handed circumnavigation of the globe 18 years ago.

MacArthur, then 28, completed her 27,354-mile odyssey in 71 days, 14 hours, 18 minutes and 33 seconds on February 7, 2005.

With an average speed on the water of 15.9 knots, she beat the previous record set by Frenchman Francis Joyon by more than a day.

It was an astounding achievement given that many in sailing had predicted Joyon’s mark, set only in 2004, would last many years. Joyon had taken more than 20 days off the previous record in completing his journey in 72 days, 22 hours, 54 minutes and 22 seconds.

MacArthur, from Cowes on the Isle of Wight, set out on November 28, 2004 in her 75ft trimaran called B&Q/Castorama. She crossed the finish line off Ushant, France , at 10.25pm on February 7.

During an incident-packed voyage she narrowly avoided colliding with a whale, suffered burns to her arm and was battered and bruised after climbing the 90ft mast to carry out repairs.

She also had to battle gales and icebergs in the Southern Ocean , deal with light winds in the Atlantic and cope with a host of other technical problems.

Despite that, she managed to stay ahead of Joyon’s time for the vast majority of her adventure. She also collected another five records on the way, beating Joyon’s time to the Equator, the Cape of Good Hope, Cape Leeuwin in Australia, Cape Horn and back to the Equator.

“I am elated, I am absolutely drained, it has been a very tough trip,” MacArthur said. “When I crossed the line I felt like collapsing on the floor and just falling asleep. I was absolutely over the moon.”

MacArthur, originally from Derbyshire , was given a Damehood soon after her completing her quest.

Her record stood for almost three years before being reclaimed by Joyon. He took another 14 days off the time, finishing in 57 days, 13 hours and 34 minutes.

The record is currently held by another Frenchman, Francois Gabart, who completed the journey in 42 days, 16 hours, 40 minutes and 35 seconds in December 2017.

MacArthur, who still holds the record for the fastest woman to sail solo around the world, retired in 2010 and set up the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, which campaigns for a circular economy to eliminate waste and pollution.

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After circling the globe – carrying everything she needed with her – she returned with new insights into the way the world works, as a place of interlocking cycles and finite resources, where the decisions we make today affect what's left for tomorrow.

Ellen MacArthur becomes the fastest solo sailor to circumnavigate the globe

Spending 71 days alone at sea, confronted by the awesome power and dazzling beauty of nature, Ellen began to ponder the fragility of the systems we’ve built. Her boat was her world and her survival was entirely dependent on the limited food, fuel, and other supplies she’d brought with her. She realised that our global economy is no different – it relies completely on the finite resources we extract, use and then dispose of.

"No experience in my life could have given me a better understanding of the word finite."

Ellen MacArthur

When she returned, she began a new journey of learning to understand how our economy works. She realised that the solutions to our biggest problems don’t just lie in the way we make energy, but also in the way we use materials. Everything we use is in limited supply, from the precious metals in our computers and phones to the sand in cement used to make buildings.

2011 - Project redesign for schools

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She found that the linear system in which we live is fundamentally flawed. She asked herself what would a successful economy that uses things, rather than uses them up look like? After talking with business leaders, engineers and other experts, she concluded that building a system that could work in the long term is within our reach. But we would need to transform our extractive, throwaway economic model to one that was based on the principles of a circular economy – an economy designed to keep materials in use, eliminate waste and regenerate natural systems.

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Outstanding Achievement Award Ellen MacArthur, yachtswoman, who at 28 years of age, sailed single handed round-the-world.

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Record Breaking Yachtswoman

Dame Ellen MacArthur is a Record-Breaking Yachtswoman.

Dame Ellen’s fascination with sailing started at just 4 when she began sailing with her aunt.

While at school, Ellen started saving her dinner money to hopefully one day buy a boat. At 13, she purchased her first boat/dinghy, ‘ Threepenny Bit ‘.

At the exceptionally young age of 18, Ellen achieved her RYA Yachtmaster and Instructor’s Ticket.

Ellen’s record-breaking career soon followed when she single-handedly sailed around Britain in her ‘ Iduna’ boat. This achievement earned her the BT/JYA Young Sailor of the Year title.

Despite such promise, Ellen found it hard to attract sponsorship to take her career to the next stage. Out of 2,500 letters to potential sponsors, she received just two replies.

Eventually, Ellen raised enough money to buy a used 21ft Classe Mini.

She refitted the boat and raced it solo across the Atlantic in the 1997 Mini Transat Race , completing the 2,700-mile journey in 33 days.

This achievement brought sponsorship from the retail group Kingfisher. This funded her move to an Open 50 yacht, which she entered in the gruelling 1998 Route Du Rhum Race .

Ellen’s strong effort saw her finish first in her class and fifth overall. This led to her being named BT/JYA Yachtsman of the Year in the UK and Sailing’s Young Hope in France.

As a result, Kingfisher backed Ellen to the tune of £2 million to enter the 2000/01 Vendee Globe with a brand new Open 60 boat named ‘ Kingfisher ‘.

Those who had predicted that the 5ft slip of a girl would struggle against muscular male opponents were silenced as Ellen finished the challenge ahead of all of her male counterparts, bar one – making Ellen the fastest female and youngest sailor to race around the world solo, nonstop .

Dame Ellen MacArthur – Sailing Legend

Her achievements as a record-breaking yachtswoman led to being nominated in the BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2001.

In November 2002, she tackled the gruelling Route du Rhum again, finishing first and breaking several records. She was the first woman to sail to victory in the race and captained the first monohull to cross the line, smashing the course record.

In 2003, she captained a round-the-world record attempt for a crewed yacht in ‘ Kingfisher 2 ‘. Unfortunately, she had a setback by a broken mast in the Southern Ocean, 2000 miles from the coast of Australia.

In January 2004, her new yacht, ‘ B&Q/Castorama ‘ was unveiled. Nigel Irens and Benoit Cabaret designed this superyacht to help Ellen break solo records. The 75-foot trimaran was built in Australia, with many of the components specifically arranged to consider MacArthur’s 5’2” height.

In June 2004, Ellen sailed the ‘B&Q/Castorama’ from New York Bay to Lizard Point, Cornwall, in 7 days, 3 hours, 49 minutes, 57 seconds.

This set a new world record for a transatlantic crossing by women. Remarkably, Ellen beat the previous crewed record and the single-handed version.

Sailing Non-Stop Around The World

On 28th November 2004, Ellen began her attempt to break the solo record for sailing non-stop around the world.

During her circumnavigation, she set records for the fastest solo voyage to the equator, past the Cape of Good Hope, past Cape Horn, and back to the equator again. She crossed the finishing line near the French coast at Ushant at 22:29 UTC on February 7th, 2005, beating the previous record set by French sailor Francis Joyon by 1 day, 8 hours, 35 minutes, and 49 seconds.

On her return to England on February 8th, 2005, it was announced that she was to be made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in recognition of her achievement, becoming, it is believed, the youngest-ever recipient of this honour.

Dame Ellen MacArthur Motivational Speaker

Known for her steely ambition, professionalism and unfaltering determination to succeed, Ellen’s story is not just about sailing but one of human endeavour. Her innovative thinking, goals, and success in overcoming countless challenges inspire audiences to make their innermost dreams come true!

Delivered as a fireside chat, Dame Ellen MacArthur inspires, motivates, breaks down barriers and encourages the audience to achieve their goals with her stories of living the dream, overcoming incredible difficulties, digging deep into her emotional reserves, and finally achieving the impossible.

Ellen MacArthur Foundation Circular Economy

The Ellen MacArthur Foundation was established in 2010 to accelerate the transition to the circular economy.

Since its creation, the charity has emerged as a global thought leader. As a result, they have established the circular economy on the agenda of decision-makers across business, government, and academia.

For more info on Ellen MacArthur (Dame), email us or speak with an agent on 01275 463222

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13 Top female sailors

Here's our pick of some of the most inspiring yachtswomen. Who's your inspiration?

These 13 women have all achieved excellence as sailors, accomplishing astonishing feats of bravery, stamina and skill at the helm.

From single-handed circumnavigations of the globe to Olympic gold medals, these are some of our favourite female trailblazers in the world of sailing. Who would you add to the list of top female sailors? Tweet us on @ybw

Dame Ellen MacArthur “Courage is not having the energy to go on, it’s going on when you do not have the energy.”

Dame Ellen MacArthur broke the world record for the fastest solo circumnavigation of the globe, completing the 27,354 nautical mile trip in 71 days, 14 hours, 18 minutes and 33 seconds. She beat the previous record by one day, eight hours, 35 minutes and 49 seconds.

The retired British sailor loved life on the water from a young age and has previously competed in the Mini Transat solo transatlantic race and the Vendee Globe solo round-the-world sailing race.

Since then, Ellen has launched two charities, the Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation .

Follow EllenMacArthur on Twitter

Shirley Robertson, MBE and OBE

This Scottish sailor made it into the history books when she became the first British woman to win two Olympic gold medals at two consecutive Olympic games, Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004 competing in the Yngling class. She went on to be named female World Sailor of the Year by the International Sailing Federation and was awarded an MBE in 2000 and an OBE in 2005.

Shirley worked hard to raise the profile of the sport, presenting and producing CNN’s Mainsail programme and as a BBC Olympic sailing commentator in Weymouth during the London 2012 Olympics. She is also the only woman to take the helm on the superyacht circuit steering the stunning 45-metre Salperton in three regattas in the Caribbean and Sardina.

Follow Shirley on Twitter

Dame Naomi James “What I did was completely different. Ellen is a professional racer; I was an adventurer.”

Dame Naomi James was the first woman to sail single-handed around the world via Cape Horn. She left Dartmouth in Devon on 9 September 1977 and returned 272 days later on 8 June 1978.

New Zealand-born Naomi was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1979 in recognition of her achievements.

Crazy voyages: sailors who took to the sea without any sailing experience

Tracy Edwards

Credit: Tanya Visser/PPL

Tracy Edwards , MBE, entered her first Whitbread Round the World race at the age of 23. She made history by leading the first all-female crew to the finish line of the Whitbread Round the World Race on board Maiden in the 89-90 race. Her 12 crew won two legs and finished second in its class, the best performances in the race by a British boat since 1977. Edwards is currently busy restoring her beloved Maiden to her former glory.

Tracy Edwards’ iconic yacht Maiden is coming home

Clare Francis

Clare Francis, MBE, was working in marketing when she decided to sail singlehandedly across the Atlantic in 1973.  A year later she took part in the Round Britain Race with Eve Bonham, finishing in third place. The high achiever went on to be the first woman to skipper a yacht in the 1977-1978 Whitbread Round the World Race. She and her Swan 65 finished in 5th place. To add to her impressive achievements, the former yachtswoman is now an international bestselling author with 12 fiction novels under her belt and four non fiction. She is also a trustee of the charity Action for M.E., which raises money and awareness for sufferers of chronic fatigue syndrome.

Laura Dekker “There were moments where I was like, ‘What the hell am I doing out here?,’ but I never wanted to stop.”

At the age of 13, Laura Dekker announced she wanted to become the youngest person to circumnavigate the globe single-handedly, prompting the Guinness World Records to stop recognising records for “youngest” sailors.

The Dutch authorities objected to her plans and she fought a 10-month court battle to follow her dream. She eventually persuaded judges to allow her departure after agreeing to upgrade to a bigger boat with better navigation equipment, undertake training in first aid and learn how to cope with sleep deprivation.

In August 2010, she set sail on her epic journey onboard her two-masted ketch and arrived, 5,600 nautical miles later, at Simpson Bay on St Maarten in January 2012 – breaking the world record. She was only 16 years and four months of age.

Jeanne Socrates “I’m not really an armchair and slippers person.”

In 2013, British sailor Jeanne Socrates became the oldest woman to sail solo round the world non-stop. This was the 70-year-old’s third attempt to complete the 25,000-mile circumnavigation on her 38ft yacht Nereida.

After 259 days at sea, Jeanne returned triumphant back to British shores. Earlier this year she was awarded with the Cruising Club of America’s Blue Water Medal following her successful voyage.

Read Jeanne Socrate’s blog

Pippa Wilson, MBE

Pippa Wilson continues to be one of the UK’s best female sailors. She won a gold medal in the Yngling sailing class at the 2008 Beijing Olympics along with Sarah Webb and Sarah Ayton, gold in two World Championships and gold in one European Championships.

Follow Pippa on Twitter

Sarah Ayton, OBE

Olympic gold medallist Sarah Ayton is another of the UK’s most successful British female sailors. With two Olympic gold medals under her belt, along with two gold World Championship medals and one gold European Championship medal.

Sarah won an Olympic gold medal alongside Shirley Robertson and Sarah Gosling in the Yngling sailing class in 2004, and again in 2008 with Pippa Wilson and Sarah Gosling.

Follow Sarah on Twitter

Sarah Gosling, OBE

This Olympian is another of Britain’s great female sailors, having won two Olympic gold medals, two gold World Championship medals and one gold European Championship medal.

Sarah won all her medals in the Yngling sailing class alongside Shirley Robertson, Pippa Wilson and Sarah Ayton. Already an MBE, Sarah was awarded an OBE in the 2009 New Year Honours list.

Denise “Dee” Caffari, MBE

Record-setting Dee Caffari came to sailing relatively late after spending five years as a physical education teacher. In 2006, Caffari became the first woman to single-handedly circumnavigate the globe against prevailing winds and currents after 178 days at sea, having started in late 2005.

Just under three years later, in February 2009, Dee Caffari completed the Vendee Globe race, setting a new record and becoming the first woman to sail around the world in both directions.

Follow Dee on Twitter

Kay Cottee, AO 

Awarded the Order of Australia, Cottee was the first woman to successfully complete a solo, non-stop, unassisted circumnavigation of the globe. Cottee achieved the feat in 1988 in her 11m yacht Blackmores First Lady, and she did it in just 189 days.

Cottee established the trip that is routinely tried by sailors chasing speed records and completed it alone, without stopping and without assistance. She was even washed overboard when her yacht capsized in 20 foot waves. Her achievement is as impressive as it is daunting to imagine, and fortunately she didn’t celebrate the achievement alone: nearly 100,000 Australians were awaiting her in Sydney Harbour when she returned.

Krystyna Chojnowska-Liskiewicz

And last, but certainly not least, the first woman to circumnavigate the globe is also a sea captain and shipbuilding engineer. Krystyna Chojnowska-Liskiewicz set off on February 28, 1976 from the Canary Islands on her own in her 10m yacht Mazurek, returning 401 days later on April 21, 1978.

The Polish sailor has been called the “First Lady of the Oceans” and was inducted into the elite Explorers Club in New York. She narrowly beat New Zealander Naomi James (above) who completed her own circumnavigation on June 8, 1978.

Record yachtswoman ready to sail again

LES SABLES D'OLONNE, France -- Solo sailor Ellen MacArthur is planning her next adventure less than 24 hours after becoming the fastest woman to sail round the world single-handed.

The 24-year-old British yachtswoman crossed the finishing line to a hero's welcome in the Vendee Globe round-the-world yacht race.

After just three hours' sleep, she awoke to the clamour of the world's press and announced she would compete in the Atlantic challenge race in July.

She will again be using her yacht Kingfisher -- but this time with a crew, she said as she recovered from her exertions in what is arguably the toughest of all round the world races.

Competitors in the Atlantic Challenge have to sail from Europe to the United States and take part in several legs off the American continent before returning to Europe.

MacArthur, who is just 5ft 2ins (1.52 metres) tall, finished second in the Vendee Globe, but in doing so set major milestones in sailing.

As well as becoming the fastest woman to sail around the globe, she became the youngest-ever finisher in the Vendee race, and only the second person to sail round the world solo in less than 100 days.

Flares lit up the sky and horns sounded as Ellen, completed what is arguably the toughest round-the-world yacht race.

She described her reception at the French port of Les Sables d'Olonne as "mind blowing."

And she said it was the hundreds of e-mails she received daily on her voyage, some from Buckingham Palace, that kept her going during the toughest moments of her journey.

"In those low moments it is the e-mails from people living the race with me that really gave me encouragement," she said.

She said was looking forward to going back to her parents home in the landlocked English county of Derbyshire in the next few days, but said she wanted to stay in France to perhaps see some more of the Vendee competitors finish the race.

Of the original 23 competitors that set out on November, 15 are still out at sea. Frenchman Michel Desjoyeaux finished first, arriving one day before her.

MacArthur broke down on a couple of occasions as she told how her trip had been for many people.

She became particularly emotional when talking about a French charity with which she is involved which that takes children with leukaemia out sailing.

"You're not doing it for you, you are doing it for them -- to see the smiles on their faces is amazing," she said.

She said could face another Vendee Globe race, despite the dramas and dangers of the past three months.

On her journey she has had to face the icy Southern Ocean, treacherous Cape Horn and the expanse of the Atlantic, taking her sleep in 15 minute bursts.

Several times she has had to climb her yacht's 30-metre (90ft) high mast in storm-tossed seas to carry out essential repairs.

"If the race was to start again tomorrow I would not hesitate going out there again," she added.

MacArthur spoke with great affection of her New Zealand built 60-foot yacht, Kingfisher. "In the last 12 months I have spent six months at sea with Kingfisher, mostly alone," she said.

"I feel she is a person and has a personality and she has her good bits and bad bits, like every single person.

"I have done everything to look after her and it seems she has done a pretty good job of looking after me too."

She said she had received an e-mail from someone which summed up what it was like to survive and complete one of the world's toughest races.

It read: "Courage is not having the energy to go on, it's going on when you do not have the energy." Ellen added: "And that's true."

Yachtswoman sails to solo record February 12, 2001 Frenchman sails to victory February 11, 2001 Sailor Ellen MacArthur making waves February 9, 2001 Key dates in MacArthur's race February 9, 2001 Quotes from Ellen MacArthur February 9, 2001

Ellen MacArthur's Web site Kingfisher Challenge 2000 Atlantic Challenge Cup Note: Pages will open in a new browser window External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.

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Ellen falls for her rescuer

Round-the-world yachtswoman Ellen MacArthur has split from her long-time boyfriend to be with the man who saved her.

MacArthur, 26, broke up with Ian McKay after Portuguese diver Louis Costa came to the rescue of her stricken vessel.

Her craft broke its mast during the Jules Verne Challenge race in the Southern Ocean earlier this year.

Mr Costa dived into treacherous seas to help her. Yesterday, he admitted they began to bond immediately.

'We had an amazing understanding in a very short time,' he added. 'We were sitting on floating boxes of food in one of the hulls, with water up to our knees, while we ate macaroni from the same pot.

'Ellen was very communicative and I started to learn to speak English for the first time. Ellen is a very nice and beautiful girl. It would be a beautiful story.'

He confirmed that the pair were friends, although MacArthur appeared reluctant to speculate on her relationship with Mr Costa.

The sailor, who finished second in the round-the-world race, confirmed her and McKay had parted. 'Ian and I split a long time ago,' she said.

MacArthur and Mr Costa are believed to be in constant contact.

He recently spent Cowes week with her as part of the support crew on her trimaran Kingfisher 2.

In 2001, MacArthur became both the fastest woman and youngest person to sail single-handedly around the world when she completed the Vendee Globe solo race.

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Camilla hails ‘brilliant’ all-female yacht crew who won round-the-world race

The Queen has praised a group of yachtswomen for their “brilliant” win in a global race that broke diversity barriers.

Camilla welcomed to her Clarence House home the crew of the Maiden, who became the first all-female outfit to triumph in a round-the-world yacht challenge when they won the Ocean Globe Race earlier this month.

“You’re doing a brilliant job, keep on doing it – that’s really important,” the Queen told the women, who are part of a project promoting the education of women and girls.

Heather Thomas, from Otley, West Yorkshire , captained Maiden to victory as the vessel raced for 153 days and crossed the finish line on April 16 at the Royal Yacht Squadron in Cowes, Isle of Wight.

She said after the champagne reception: “It was incredible after we’d found out we’d won.

“It’s a pretty historic moment for women’s sailing, I’m really happy with the result, the girls all worked really hard for it – so we’re proud of ourselves.”

The winning yacht was sailed by an international crew that included African, Caribbean and Middle Eastern women alongside others from the UK and Costa Rica.

Maiden was the brainchild of veteran yachtswoman Tracy Edwards, who skippered the boat during the 1989-90 Whitbread global yacht race with an all-female crew, before resurrecting the vessel as part of the Maiden Factor Foundation.

Ms Edwards, the founder and director of the foundation dedicated to the education of women and girls, said the organisation’s patron Whoopi Goldberg had challenged her to find a diverse crew.

She said: “For me this is the end of a 45-year fight for the equality of women within sailing and sport generally and actually women’s empowerment.

“Sailing is described as male, pale and stale. So with Maiden in 1989 we dealt with male and the stale bit, we didn’t deal with the pale bit.

“And when Whoopi Goldberg became our patron, she looked me square in the eye, and when she went ‘change it’. I went ‘OK’ so we did. So we put this incredible crew together because we want to change the face of sailing.”

The 2023-24 Ocean Globe Race, which marked the 50th anniversary of the first edition of the Whitbread round-the-world race, featured 14 boats representing eight countries.

The yachts raced over four legs, travelling from Cowes to Cape Town, Auckland and Punta del Este, Uruguay, before returning to the UK.

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Woman sets record as oldest person to sail solo around the world

Jeanne Socrates, 77, became the oldest solo round-the-world sailor.

This 77-year-old British yachtswoman broke a world record for oldest person to sail around the world from North America solo, nonstop and unassisted.

Jeanne Socrates arrived at Royal Victoria Yacht Club in Canada on Saturday afternoon flying an orange sail aboard the SV Nereida after just under a year at sea since she departed on Oct. 3, 2018.

The yacht club shared photos and videos of Socrates sailing into port with a flotilla of other boats anxiously waiting in the breakwater and harbor as her solo circumnavigation came to a close.

(MORE: Duchess Kate Takes on New Charity)

During a previous attempt at the same record in 2017, Socrates was forced to stop after she broke her neck and ribs, she explained on her website .

Socrates, who is from Lymington in Hampshire, documented her months-long journey on a blog that included photos, articles and a Google Earth map that tracked her progress during the voyage.

Charlotte Kaufman, founder of Women Who Sail, the largest online group of women sailors in the world, hailed Socrates' accomplishements.

"I'm honored to know a lot of record-breaking sailors and women accomplishing amazing things on the water," she told ABC News. "Women's achievements both in the sport and in the industry have truly reached a tipping point in world records and accomplishments," Kaufman added.

The previous record was held by Minoru Saito, who was 71 when he completed the journey in 2005, according to the Royal Victoria Yacht Club.

Socrates' 38-foot boat was named after the Nereids, handmaidens of Poseidon, of ancient Greek mythology, according to her blog.

(MORE: Sailing Family Defends Choice to Raise Children at Sea)

Socrates did not immediately respond to ABC News' request for comment.

The seasoned sailor, who has previously completed other solo travels, was officially recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the oldest woman to sail solo, nonstop and unassisted around the world in 2013.

"In addition to Jeanne's world record, we have the first woman to helm an America's Cup Boat (Carolijn Brouwer for Team Netherlands in 2021), the first woman and youngest person to enter the Golden Globe Race (Susie Goodall, 2018), and Lisa Blair [who] holds the records for first woman to sail solo, nonstop, unassisted around Australia (2018) and she's also the first woman to sail solo around Antarctica (2017)," Kaufman explained.

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It’s been almost a year, but Trinity Rodman still can barely bring herself to say it out loud.

“Losing at the World Cup,” she says. “I hate saying that word.”

For the United States women’s national team, the L-word has always been something of taboo, if not a foreign concept entirely. A juggernaut in the order of Brazil on the men’s side, the USWNT has been a serial winner, dominating women’s soccer like few teams in any sport. The US has won gold at the Olympics four out of seven times, and in nine women’s World Cup tournaments, the team has claimed the top prize in four of them. The previous decade produced a truly storied run, with the likes of Megan Rapinoe and Alex Morgan leading the USWNT to Olympic gold in 2012 and consecutive World Cup titles in 2015 and 2019.

But last year’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand marked a humbling end to that dynastic era. Under head coach Vlatko Andonovski, the team was an awkward mix of familiar mainstays and World Cup rookies like Rodman, lacking the venom in attack that American fans have come to expect. “Going into the World Cup, it was chaotic and there was a lot of adjustment,” Rodman adds. “I feel like it was kind of hard to know where you stood.”

In four matches at the tournament, the USWNT mustered only four goals––three of them coming against lowly Vietnam––before crashing out in the round of 16 against Sweden. It was the worst finish ever at a World Cup for the US, which had previously never finished lower than third at the competition. “Having a coach that’s experiencing the World Cup for the first time, with half the team that’s experiencing it for the first time,” she adds, “I think there was a lot of uncertainty and unknown factors.”

Andonovski resigned shortly after the World Cup and has since been replaced by the English coach Emma Hayes, who officially took the reins of the USWNT last month after a decorated 12-year run with Chelsea FC of the Women’s Super League. “The way she connects with players is so good,” Rodman says of Hayes. “The honesty and upfront meetings that she has with people, I think, helps a lot with people’s confidence and the way that they go into games.”

The changes have extended from the touchline to the pitch, with Rapinoe and other longtime USWNT anchors such as Julie Ertz and Kelley O’Hara announcing their retirement over the past year.

Ten months after the disappointment down under, Rodman believes there is more clarity within the national team. There is also decidedly more youth. The average age of the roster that Hayes selected for a pair of friendlies this month against South Korea was 26, underlining the generational shift in the squad. Within the current setup, Rodman says, “It’s a little bit more up-front and blunt about what your role is, what our new coach wants us to do.”

“I feel like we’re more connected as a team and we’re working for each other,” she says. “Not that we weren’t before, but I think recently it’s been more of a team effort and not just relying on certain people’s skill set and magic moments.”

As Rodman and her teammates have forged a new identity, they have started to look like the USWNT of old. After a shocking loss to Mexico in February, the team has rattled off seven wins in a row, building crucial momentum ahead of next month’s Olympics in Paris. Hayes hasn’t yet named her squad for the tournament, but barring an injury, Rodman is a virtual shoo-in.

She showed why against South Korea, dazzling alongside the other youngsters as the USWNT won both matches by a combined score of 7-0. In the second friendly, Rodman displayed the relentless energy and technical quality that have made her one of the team’s most complete attacking players. She tormented the Korean defense with menacing runs down the right side, helping to create two of the team’s goals––first setting up Sophia Smith before assisting the 17-year-old phenom Lily Yohannes on the other.

Rodman, 22, is in the vanguard of the USWNT’s youth movement, a front-facing star to lead the team into a new era. There is world-class athleticism in her bloodlines; her father, Dennis Rodman, is one of the greatest—and most eccentric—players in NBA history. He was not an active presence in her upbringing, as her mother, Michelle Moyer, raised both Trinity and her older brother. But there is no lingering resentment. “I have nothing but great things to say about him,” Trinity Rodman says of her father. “I’ve modeled a lot of my game after him and I think you can see that.”

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Rodman’s career is still in its infancy, but she’s already made her own name. She is one of the best and highest-paid players in the National Women’s Soccer League, winning rookie of the year in 2021 as she helped guide the Washington Spirit to the title. And Rodman’s on-field accolades have earned her endorsements. She is sponsored by both Oakley and Red Bull. This month, Adidas made Rodman the face of a new cleat. She also appears poised to become the new face of the USWNT, a role she has learned to embrace.

“There's definitely pressure with it,” Rodman told me last week at an Adidas pop-up in Brooklyn, “but I think as time goes on and the more experience I have, the less it’s crippling.”

After last year’s World Cup flop, Rodman believes the USWNT is under more pressure heading into the Olympics. Oddsmakers have made the US slight favorites to win gold in Paris over reigning world champion Spain, but the American hegemony over the sport is fading. The team must now reckon with a more parity-filled women’s soccer landscape, with countries in Europe and South America posing a threat to the USWNT.

“In the past, obviously it’s been the US over everything, and that’s not a secret. But now, I like to give kudos to where the women’s game has progressed to and grown to,” Rodman says. “These teams are advancing with youth, with physicality, tactically, technically, everything. I think the game’s growing, which obviously makes it harder and harder for us to stay at the top.”

The United States women’s national team has long operated at the nexus of sports and activism, with players shouldering two sets of expectations––to win and, as Alex Morgan put it earlier this year, to “give attention to causes that are important to us.”

Such advocacy has made it nearly impossible to discuss the team strictly in athletic terms, its off-field legacy standing as towering as the one built on the pitch. “The adoration, the loyalty, the fervor they have inspired has more in common with political or cultural idols than it does with humdrum sports fandom,” The New York Times ’s Rory Smith wrote last year.

Players such as Rapinoe have been outspoken champions of progressive causes, from equal pay to LGBTQ+ rights, and over the last several years, the team became fully entrenched in the culture war—revered on the left and reviled on the right. After the team lost in penalties to Sweden at last year’s World Cup, former president Donald Trump and his MAGA acolytes responded with glee, mocking Rapinoe for her miss in the shoot-out. “WOKE EQUALS FAILURE,” Trump wrote on Truth Social at the time. “Nice shot Megan, the USA is going to Hell!!! MAGA.”

When we met last week in Brooklyn, I asked Rodman about the reaction to the team’s loss. How did it feel to see a former president and many of his supporters essentially root against the United States national team?

“I can only speak so much, and it’s hard being a young player. I don’t know the extent of everything, but yeah, I don’t look at it in any type of way. I feel like everyone has their opinion and their right to have that opinion,” she says. “Being a team that wins for so long and then losing, I think it shocks the world, not in a good way, obviously. Fans aren’t going to be happy about that, but being in the team and being in the environment, you really understand the struggle and just how much you get tested in every possible way.”

More recently, the USWNT has confronted ideological tension within its own camp. Korbin Albert, a 20-year-old midfielder and one of the team’s promising new faces, came under fire in April after sharing anti-LGBTQ+ content on TikTok, earning a public reprimand from USWNT veterans. Lindsey Horan, the team’s captain, called it a “disappointing situation,” while Morgan said they remained committed to “a safe and respectful space, especially as allies and members of the LGBTQ+ community.”

“We’ve worked extremely hard to uphold the integrity of this national team through all of the generations, and we are extremely, extremely sad that this standard was not upheld,” Horan said at the time.

Albert publicly apologized, but many US fans have not been so forgiving. When she took the field in the first match against South Korea this month, Albert drew boos from the crowd in Colorado. She’s also drawn rebukes online.

“I like to say social media is a great place, but a dangerous place,” Rodman says. “Having strong opinions is difficult, especially when you are looked at a lot and you have a platform to do so. Obviously getting booed is horrible, but there’s people that have their opinions and have their beliefs and they’re not always going to match up with those. Even if you’re in the spotlight, it doesn’t mean you believe the same things as everybody else. But yeah, for us, she’s on the US women’s national team and we’re going to be her teammates and support her. When she comes on the field, she’s just like everybody else wearing that number and playing for our country, and she’s working her butt off to do so.”

The controversy, not unlike a humbling loss, might be a learning experience for the USWNT’s young players, who are still getting used to the weight of the badge. Rodman understands the social responsibility that accompanies the team, saying she is ready to take up the mantle left by her accomplished predecessors. Having a “big voice,” she told me, is “what makes the US women’s national team special.”

“I think for us it’s learning from the people that came before us and the players that have changed the world,” Rodman says. “I love saying that. It’s not just soccer, it’s so much more than that.”

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