EF Language and her skipper Paul Cayard have rewritten the record book in the Whitbread Round the World Race by winning with a leg to spare.

Cayard's boat crossed the line in La Rochelle, France, in sixth place at the end of the eighth leg, one place ahead of her nearest challenger, Gunnar Krantz's Swedish Match. The result put Cayard 115 points clear of Krantz and, with only 105 points on offer for the last leg back to Southampton, EF Language is uncatchable.

"When did you know you were going to win?" Cayard was asked, but before he could reply Magnus Olsson interrupted on his skipper's behalf: "When we sold Smith!".

Olsson, who had been an organiser of the campaign from the start before sailing as a watch leader, released his pent-up anger with a broad smile. A crusade going back almost 20 years was over, but he had been largely responsible for the recruitment of Lawrie Smith as skipper and had taken the Briton's departure to Silk Cut as a personal affront. As the winning crew submitted to the questions, they greeted Olsson's intervention with laughter.

"We had a specific mission on this leg," said Cayard, "to beat Swedish Match at all costs, to eliminate any risk of them winning the race overall. Although it was boring, it was the professional thing to do."

Earlier, Smith had been beaten to the finish by his former lieutenant Paul Standbridge, in Toshiba, after a 500-mile match race from the time they crossed tracks out in the Atlantic. Although they were never more than two miles apart in the run-in, it was only on the final morning when the fog cleared that Standbridge was able to see Silk Cut.

Toshiba beat her home by only 10 minutes. The British boat is the highest points scorer since the fleet left Brazil and still has a chance of finishing second overall after the 450-mile sprint which starts on Friday.

Two-and-a-half hours after Smith crossed the line, John Kostecki's Chessie Racing claimed the third podium place, but the tumultuous welcome was reserved for Christine Guillou and the all-women crew of EF Education.

Their magnificent fourth place ranks alongside Isabelle Autissier's first-leg rout of the fleet in the BOC Around Alone four years ago. It is no coincidence that Autissier was aboard EF Education for the transatlantic leg.