BRITISH WOMEN’S AND YOUTH AMERICA’S CUP SQUADS UNVEILED
08 Feb 2024Ahead of the 37th America’s Cup later this autumn, the Challenger of Record INEOS Britannia has unveiled its teams for the Women’s and Youth America’s Cup.
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Hannah Mills is a two-time world champion in the Women's 470 class, having won in 2012 and 2019. Mills won a silver medal for Team GB with her crew Saskia Clark in the 2012 Olympics, she followed this up with a gold in the same event at both the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and, partnered by Eilidh McIntyre, the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.
Saskia Clark has competed in the 2008 Summer Olympics and she was selected, along with Hannah Mills, to sail in the 470 Women's class for Team GB. They went on to win silver at the 2012 Olympic games and a gold medal at the 2016 games.
The British team is seeking to win the first ever Women’s America’s Cup. It will also be aiming to defend its title as Youth America’s Cup winners, having won with the Land Rover BAR Academy at the previous Youth event in Bermuda in 2017 (no Youth America’s Cup event was held in New Zealand in 2020).
The Athena Pathway is headed up by Hannah Mills, the most successful female Olympic sailing medallist in sailing history. Mills has been an active part of the Emirates Great Britain SailGP Team in the strategist role on the F50 whilst also leading the British Youth and America’s Cup campaign.
Olympic talent for British Women’s America’s Cup team
While Mills will take one wheel of the AC40, the other named female helms are Freya Black, aged just 22, who’ll be representing GBR at the Paris 2024 Olympics in the 49er FX class in the months before the Cup, and Ellie Aldridge, who’s also competing in the Olympics in the Women’s Formula Kite class, having previously competed at a high level in the 49er FX.
For the Women’s America’s Cup Mills will be reunited with Saskia Clark, with whom she won Olympic Gold in Rio 2016 in the 470. Clark will be on the AC40 as a trimmer.
Clark commented: “Very excited is an understatement. Hannah and I had a great Olympic career together and I’m looking forward to reuniting, taking all the learnings from our Olympic experiences and applying them into a broader team environment in a new class of boat”.
They are joined by Saskia Tidey, who’ll be competing at Paris in the 49er FX with Black, and Tokyo Olympic Silver medallist Anna Burnet, who is also set to represent Britain at Paris 2024 in the Nacra 17 mixed multihull class.
Hannah Diamond, who races with Mills on the Emirates GBR SailGP F50 and is also an experienced offshore sailor, also joins the Women’s America’s Cup Squad.
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