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Charlie Dalin, Vendee Globe Record-Holder, Dies at 42

The French sailor's death follows a long battle with a rare gastrointestinal cancer that reshaped how his 2024–25 race win is remembered.

Sailing - Arrival of the Vendee Globe winner - Les Sables-d'Olonne, France - January 14, 2025 Macif Sante Prevoyance's Charlie Dalin holds the trophy onstage as he arrives in port after winning the Vendee Globe REUTERS/Stephane Mahe/File Photo
French skipper Charlie Dalin celebrates after crossing the finish line of the 10th edition of the Vendee Globe in January 2025

Overview

  • Race organisers and Dalin's wife, Perrine Le Pape, confirmed his death on Thursday and said he had been fighting a long illness.
  • Dalin set the overall Vendee Globe record in January 2025 with a time of 64 days, 19 hours, 22 minutes and 49 seconds, beating the prior mark by more than nine days.
  • He publicly revealed in October that he had been diagnosed with a tumour days before the 2024–25 start and that he received immunotherapy during the record-setting solo circumnavigation.
  • Dalin built a two-decade career that included transatlantic wins and a runner-up finish in the 2020–21 Vendee Globe, and he withdrew from the Transat Jacques Vabre in late 2023 for medical reasons.
  • Tributes have poured in from the sailing community and French leaders, and the sport now faces a period of remembrance for a competitor whose sporting feats and private fight with cancer drew wide attention.