diff --git a/.ci/build-win32.sh b/.ci/build-win32.sh
index 9c3b4802b..d4cfb212a 100755
--- a/.ci/build-win32.sh
+++ b/.ci/build-win32.sh
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 set -e
 
 meson --cross-file=.ci/win32-cross-file.txt win32build --wrap-mode=forcefallback -Dtests=disabled \
-	-Dglib=enabled -Dfreetype=enabled -Dgdi=enabled -Dcairo=enabled $@
+	-Dglib=enabled -Dfreetype=enabled -Dgdi=enabled -Dcairo=enabled --buildtype=release $@
 ninja -Cwin32build -j8 # building with all the cores won't work fine with CricleCI for some reason
 
 rm -rf win32build/harfbuzz-win32