392 days to the first trophy. Rapid’s rise into the world elite of women’s 3×3 basketball
July 13, 2026, sportarena
In June 2025, Rapid București stepped onto the court for the first time in a FIBA 3×3 Women’s Series stop. A little over a year later, the team from Giulești lifted the first trophy in its history on the world circuit, in Cáceres. Between those two moments came many tournaments, semifinals, a qualification for the circuit’s Final, a first lost final and the step by step building of a team that learned to win at the highest level.
Rapid București needed 392 days to go from its FIBA 3×3 Women’s Series debut to its first title.
On June 13, 2025, in Vienna, Rapid made its debut on the international women’s 3×3 basketball circuit. On July 10, 2026, in the Plaza de Toros in Cáceres, the four Rapid players celebrated a 16-9 win in the final against Latvia.
Between those two dates lies the story of one of the fastest rises of a Romanian project in international 3×3 basketball.
Rapid instantly became one of the best
The Rapid project began in the summer of 2025 with a clear idea, building a team capable of competing right away in the FIBA 3×3 Women’s Series.
The initial roster had a strong international dimension. Hortense Limouzin, 3×3 world champion with France in 2022 and a participant at the Paris Olympic Games, Martyna Petrenaitė, European medalist with Lithuania, Natalie Kucowski, a player with experience in international basketball, and Romanians Alina Podar and Alexandra Bobar formed the core of a team coached by Seda Erdoğan.
In its first appearance, at the Vienna stop, Rapid won three of the four matches it played and finished the tournament in third place. An average of 19.5 points per match and a 75 percent win rate already showed that Rapid had entered the fight with the circuit’s top teams straight away.
Always close
Orléans followed, and then a stop in front of their own fans, in Bucharest. In front of their home crowd, at ParkLake Shopping Center, Rapid again reached the semifinals and finished the competition in third place. The run ended after an 18-21 loss to Azerbaijan, the tournament’s eventual winner. It was already the second podium finish in the team’s first three appearances in the Women’s Series.
The season continued with fourth place in Bordeaux, fifth place in Sabail and another semifinal in Debrecen, where Rapid again finished among the top four teams. There was no final, but the team had become one of the most consistent on the circuit.
In total, the team’s official profile for the 2025 season records 29 matches and 17 wins. The results took Rapid to Shanghai, to the season’s final tournament, reserved for the best teams in the Women’s Series.
Shanghai and the signal that Rapid can beat anyone
In Shanghai, Rapid finished in seventh place. In the group stage, Rapid beat Canada 16-15, and Canada would go on to win the tournament and the 2025 Women’s Series title.
For Rapid, the win was probably one of the most important signals of the first season. The team had already shown it could reach the final stages of the stops consistently, but the triumphant moment had not yet come.
2026, from dangerous team to title contender
Rapid entered the 2026 season with an adjusted roster and the experience of a full year in the Women’s Series.
Hortense Limouzin and Martyna Petrenaitė remained pillars of the project, while Ainhoa Gervasini, Marta Miščenko, Ana-Alexandra Ivan and Bianca Nagy Voica joined the team’s rotation.
Fifth place in Vienna was followed by the moment Rapid had been waiting for throughout the previous season, its first final in the FIBA 3×3 Women’s Series. In Amsterdam, Rapid got through the knockout stages and reached the tournament’s final. The Netherlands, backed by the crowd at NDSM Wharf, won 20-14.
Rapid had lost the final, but had crossed a new barrier.
A new step in Bucharest
At the start of July, the Women’s Series returned to Bucharest, this time at Circul Metropolitan. Rapid won its group and beat Ireland 20-9 in the quarterfinals. In the semifinals, Lithuania won 19-13. Another tournament among the top four. Looked at on its own, the result could still seem like another missed chance. Looked at in the context of the past 12 months, it was in fact another confirmation.
Rapid had been reaching the decisive stages with a regularity that could no longer be considered a coincidence. Only eight days after the Bucharest semifinal, the team took the court in Cáceres.
The title in Cáceres
The road to the first title did not start perfectly. Rapid beat Fuengirola 15-12 in the first match of the group, but lost narrowly, 13-14, to Lithuania. Second place in the group sent the team into a difficult quarterfinal against Italy.
It took overtime, but Rapid won 12-10. The team was one basket away from elimination and from a disappointing tournament. In the semifinals, the opponent was Portugal. This time, Rapid controlled the closing stages better and won 17-13.
392 days after its debut in Vienna, Rapid was in a Women’s Series final for the second time.
The final in Cáceres did not have the drama of the match against Italy. Rapid took control and, from 3-3, began to pull away. Ainhoa Gervasini, Hortense Limouzin, Marta Miščenko and Martyna Petrenaitė took the score to 16-9.
For the first time, at the end of a FIBA 3×3 Women’s Series stop, the name at the top of the standings belonged to a team from Romania, Rapid București.
Ainhoa Gervasini was named the tournament’s MVP.
Rapid București have, after the first 19 matches of the 2026 season, 13 wins, and are among the top five teams in the Race to the Final. Now that Rapid has shown it can win, the next question to be answered is how much it can win.
