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Hannah Mills

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For Hannah Mills the 18th-century Quaker, see Hannah Mills (Quaker).

Hannah Mills
OBE
Personal information
Full nameHannah Louise Mills
NationalityWelsh
Born (1988-02-29) 29 February 1988 (age 36)
Cardiff, South Glamorgan, Wales
Height157 cm (5 ft 2 in)
Weight50 kg (110 lb)
Sailing career
Class(es)Optimist, 420, 470
Medal record
Sailing
Representing  Great Britain

Graduated from University of Bristol with a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering

Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place 2020 Tokyo Women's 470
Gold medal – first place 2016 Rio de Janeiro Women's 470
Silver medal – second place 2012 London Women's 470
World Championships
Gold medal – first place 2006 Las Palmas Women's 420
Gold medal – first place 2012 Barcelona Women's 470
Gold medal – first place 2019 Enoshina Women's 470
Silver medal – second place 2011 Perth Women's 470
Silver medal – second place 2015 Haifa Women's 470
Silver medal – second place 2017 Thessaloniki Women's 470
Bronze medal – third place 2014 Santander Women's 470
Bronze medal – third place 2018 Aarhus Women's 470
Junior World Championships
Gold medal – first place 2008 Gdynia Women's 470
European Championships
Silver medal – second place 2014 Athens Women's 470
Silver medal – second place 2019 Sanremo Women’s 470
Silver medal – second place 2021 Vilamoura Women’s 470
European Junior Championships
Gold medal – first place 2007 Netherlands Women's 470
Silver medal – second place 2008 Croatia Women's 470
Star Sailors League
Skipper
rank 		Highest:
2 		1 March 2022:
8

Hannah Louise Mills, OBE (born 29 February 1988) is a British competitive sailor and 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,[1] she followed this up with a gold in the same event at both the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro[2] and, partnered by Eilidh McIntyre, the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.[3]

Mills is currently the on-board strategist for the Emirates Great Britain SailGP Team competing in the SailGP worldwide competition. In 2022, Mills and Ben Ainslie launched Athena Pathway, a programme to help fast-track development for female and youth sailors.[4] The Athena Pathway team competed in the first ever Women’s America’s Cup, helmed by Mills.[5]

Early life

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Mills was born in Cardiff, Wales, and started sailing at Cardiff Sailing Centre (then Llanishen Sailing Centre) when she was 8 years old[1][6][7] after trying sailing on a family holiday in Cornwall.[8] Mills then started moving up to sail for the Welsh National Optimist Squad and winning the British Optimist Championships in 2001.[6] She represented GBR at the 2002 and 2003 Optimist World Championship finishing first girl and fifth over-all in 2003, the best ever result by a British sailor at that championship.

Mills attended Howell's School, Llandaff in her teen years, with her now retired relative being a teacher there. She is part of the schools pay only alumnus programme, sometimes visiting the school to talk about her achievements.

Career

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Mills at Senedd Cymru – Welsh Parliament; 2016

At the 2011 Skandia Sail for Gold regatta and the 2011 Weymouth & Portland International Regatta, Hannah won a silver medal in the 470 Women class.[9]

After suffering a black flag in the very first race of the championships, Hannah and her crew Saskia claimed gold at the 2012 470 World Championships in Barcelona.[10]

On 10 August 2012 Hannah Mills helming for Saskia Clark won a silver medal at the Olympic games in Weymouth. Mills battled hard throughout the event, not finishing outside the top 6 the entire regatta. She went into the medal race with crew Saskia Clark equal points with the New Zealand team and far enough ahead of the rest of the fleet that both boats were battling it out for Gold and Silver. After a great start, however, there was a dramatic wind shift and they came 9th in the medal race, which gave them the silver medal.[11]

On 10 December 2014, Mills and Clark were robbed at knifepoint in Rio de Janeiro while in training for the 2016 Olympics.[12]

Mills and Clark won gold at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.[2] In October 2019, Mills was named as one among 12 sailors by British Olympic Association for Tokyo 2020.[13]

Mills was selected as one of the GB flag bearers at the 2020 Olympics in Japan, which took place in July 2021. On 4 August 2021, Hannah Mills and Eilidh McIntyre won a gold medal in the Women's 470 at the Tokyo Olympics. On 2 December 2021, Hannah won the World Sailor of the Year Awards alongside McIntyre.

Athena Pathway

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In 2022, Mills and Ben Ainslie launched Athena Pathway, a programme to help fast-track development for female and youth sailors. Athena Pathway has a team competing in the first-ever Women’s America’s Cup, skippered by Mills also including Tasha Bryant, Saskia Clark, Hannah Diamond, Anna Burnet, Ellie Aldridge and Hattie Rogers. Athena Pathway also put together a British Youth Team to defend their title from the inaugural event in Bermuda in 2017.

Athena Pathway entered a team into both the 2nd Unicredit Youth America's Cup and the inaugural Puig Women's America's Cup. The women's team was skippered by Mills and enrolled

Awards and honours

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In 2002, Mills was voted UK Young Sailor of the Year and BBC Wales Young Sports Personality of the Year.[14] Mills won the Female World Sailor of the Year award in 2016.[15]

Mills was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2017 New Year Honours[16] and Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2022 New Year Honours for services to sailing and the environment.[17]

Personal life

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Mills is married to windsurfer Nick Dempsey with whom she has a daughter.[18]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Silver delight for Olympic 2012 sailor Hannah Mills". BBC. 10 August 2012. Retrieved 11 August 2012.
  2. ^ a b "Rio Olympics 2016: Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark forced to wait for 470 sailing gold". BBC News. Retrieved 17 August 2016.
  3. ^ "GB pair Hannah Mills and Eilidh McIntyre win gold in 470 class". Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Archived from the original on 4 August 2021. Retrieved 4 August 2021.
  4. ^ Fretter, Helen (4 October 2024). ""This is harder than the Olympics" Britain's Hannah Mills on the Women's America's Cup". Yachting World. Retrieved 17 October 2024.
  5. ^ "Italy's Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli beat Britain's Athena Pathway to win the inaugural Puig Women's America's Cup". Sailweb. 12 October 2024. Retrieved 17 October 2024.
  6. ^ a b Stuart, Hamish (20 September 2011). "Hannah's Olympic boost for Welsh sailing". Yachts and Yachting. Retrieved 14 January 2012.
  7. ^ "Behind Every Star – Hannah Mills and Ollie Green". Sport Wales. Archived from the original on 12 August 2016. Retrieved 25 January 2012.
  8. ^ "Hannah Mills – the 'enigma'". The Daily Sail. Retrieved 18 August 2016.
  9. ^ "ISAF Sailor Profile". sailing.org. ISAF. Archived from the original on 20 January 2012. Retrieved 14 January 2012.
  10. ^ "Mills and Clark make history with first 470 Worlds win". RYA.org.uk. Retrieved 19 May 2012.
  11. ^ Bull, Andy (16 August 2016). "Great Britain's Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark on brink of striking 470 gold". The Guardian. Retrieved 3 November 2016.
  12. ^ BBC Sport – "Hannah Mills & Saskia Clark robbed at knifepoint in Rio", 11 December. Retrieved 11 December 2014
  13. ^ "Sailors picked as first Team GB athletes for Tokyo 2020". World Sailing. Retrieved 2 October 2019.
  14. ^ "Hannah Mills – Team GB Profile". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 13 June 2012. Retrieved 14 January 2012.
  15. ^ "World Sailor of the Year: Britain's Hannah Mills & Saskia Clark win top female prize". BBC. 9 November 2016. Retrieved 31 December 2016.
  16. ^ "The London Gazette – New Years Honours List" (PDF). 30 December 2016. p. 21. Retrieved 30 December 2016.
  17. ^ "The London Gazette – New Years Honours List". 30 December 2021. p. 1. Retrieved 1 January 2022.
  18. ^ Cary, Tom. "'My arms were spinning furiously': Hannah Mills helps grind Great Britain to SailGP victory". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 17 October 2024.
[edit]
Olympic Games
Preceded by Opening ceremony flagbearer for  Great Britain
(with Moe Sbihi)
Tokyo 2020 		Succeeded by
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