The British Olympic Association (BOA) has today named Hannah Snellgrove as the 11th sailor for Team GB at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
The 33-year-old from Lymington, Hampshire, will take on the world’s best in Marseille this summer in the women’s dinghy class sailing the ILCA 6, formerly known as the Laser Radial.
Having secured a country quote place for Team GB at the 2023 Sailing World Championships last August with an 11th place finish, Hannah then won selection after finishing 10th at the 2024 World Championships last month.
She joins a stellar cast of athletes, announced for Team GB in October last year, including Tokyo 2020 medallists John Gimson, Anna Burnet and Emma Wilson, and two-time Olympian Saskia Tidey.
The biggest honour
Hannah said: “It’s the biggest honour to be selected for Team GB. It’s been quite the 26-year project since first setting foot in a boat, and I think it would be fair to say I’ve taken the scenic route.
“The Olympics is the pinnacle of our sport and it’s an opportunity to share the experience and thrills of racing at the highest level with friends and family and all those who have supported me along the way. It’s really humbling to think of all the things that people have done to help me during the course of my career.
“I would love to stand on the podium at the Games, but my biggest goal is to go out in August and give a performance that I know is the absolute best version of myself as an athlete.”
A long journey
Mark Robinson, RYA Performance Director and Team GB sailing team leader, said: “It is a great pleasure to announce Hannah’s selection to Team GB today. Such is the British Sailing Team’s strength over many Olympic cycles, with only one representative allowed to represent Great Britain in each class at the Games, it is often a long journey for our sailors to reach this pinnacle.
“I am very pleased that Hannah has had the determination to stick with her goal to reach this point. I am sure she will represent Team GB with this immense inner drive and will do us proud at Paris 2024.”
The world’s best sailing nation
Team GB has a rich history of excellence in Olympic sailing competition, having won 64 medals, including 31 golds, more than any other nation.
Former Team GB athletes Sir Ben Ainslie and Hannah Mills are the most successful male and female Olympic sailors of all time; Ainslie with four golds and a silver, Mills with two golds and a silver.
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)
- Michael Beckett – Men’s Dinghy (ILCA 7)
- Hannah Snellgrove – Women’s Dinghy (ILCA 6)
The Paris 2024 Olympics will take place from 26 July-11 August 2024.
Find out more about the British Sailing Team.
