Hannah Mills OBE and Sir Ben Ainslie have announced their Athena Pathway squad for the inaugural Puig Women’s America’s Cup and retain the Youth America’s Cup for Britain.
The Puig Women’s and Youth America’s Cups, taking place alongside the 37th America’s Cup in Barcelona in September and October 2024.
Mills noted that selection was “a very difficult decision due to the immensely high standard of the 300 sailors who applied”, but that the process offered an exciting glimpse into a bright future for British sailing:
With a shared resume of 6 Olympic medals and 22 World Championship medals, the 12 strong squad also cements the reunion of one of sailing’s most successful competitive partnerships . . .
With Mills and her 470 crew Saskia Clark set to race together again for the first time since winning Gold in Rio, 2016.
The other selected athletes include Tokyo Olympic Silver medallist Anna Burnet, who is set to represent Britain at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
Burnet is not alone in this double selection, with Ellie Aldridge, Saskia Tidey and Freya Black also selected to race in both the Olympics and the Youth & Women’s America’s Cup competitions.
Also joining the team is Mills’ Emirates GBR SailGP teammate and experienced offshore sailor Hannah Diamond, who has previously competed in the Volvo Ocean race and Rolex Fastnet.
The final six Athena Pathway picks are Nick Robins, Matt Beck, Alex Hughes, James Grummett and Hattie Rogers.
Mills is confident that her squad has what it takes to win in the Autumn and hopes that the campaign will provide a platform to further Athena Pathway’s goal of inspiring positive change, and the next generation, in sailing and beyond:
