Connor Bainbridge completes Team GB’s 14-athlete sailing team for Paris 2024
Connor Bainbridge has been named as Team GB’s men’s kite athlete for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, completing the 14-strong sailing team.
Bainbridge earns his selection for Team GB following his victory at the French Olympic Week regatta last week, securing one of the five country quota places.
“It has always been my dream to go to the Olympics and it’s an unbelievable feeling for that to become a reality,” said the 30-year-old from Halifax, West Yorkshire.
“It’s definitely not been a straight or easy road to get here, with so many twists and turns over my whole career since I started windsurfing on a freezing cold lake in West Yorkshire, but it’s all been worth it and I can’t wait to represent Team GB at this summer’s Olympics.”
Bainbridge won silver at the Paris 2024 sailing test event last summer, but narrowly missed opportunities to qualify Britain for a quota spot at the 2023 World Championships and European Championships.
He made amends for it at French Olympic Week, dominating the ‘Last Chance Regatta’ fleet for unqualified nations.
Bainbridge will join Ellie Aldridge as Britain’s first ever representatives in the Formula Kite class, a new addition to the Olympic sailing roster for Paris 2024.
Mark England, Team GB Chef de Mission, said: “After narrowly missing out on selection last summer I am delighted to welcome Connor to Team GB for Paris 2024. Congratulations, also, to British Sailing who have qualified a full complement of sailors for the Games. We look forward watching them take to the waters of Marseille in three months’ time.”
The Paris 2024 Olympic Games will take place from 26 July to 11 August 2024.
The sailors selected for Paris 2024 are:
John Gimson and Anna Burnet – Mixed Multihull (Nacra 17)
James Peters and Fynn Sterritt – Men’s Skiff (49er)
Freya Black and Saskia Tidey – Women’s Skiff (49erFX)
Emma Wilson – Women’s Windsurfing (iQFOiL)
Sam Sills – Men’s Windsurfing (iQFOiL)
Ellie Aldridge – Women’s Kite (Formula Kite)
Connor Bainbridge – Men’s Kite (Formula Kite)
Michael Beckett – Men’s Dinghy (ILCA 7)
Hannah Snellgrove – Women’s Dinghy (ILCA 6)
Vita Heathcote and Chris Grube – Mixed Dinghy (470)
