The first competitors were named by Team GB for the Paris 2024 Olympics. That first annoucement covered seven of the eight sailing events Britain has qualified for.
Mark Robinson, Team GB Sailing Team Leader and RYA Performance Director, said: “Announcing this amazing group of sailors as the first athletes for Team GB is a real privilege.
They are the best of the best and have all rightly earned their spots thanks to some fantastic performances over the past year.”
So just who are the selected Team GB sailors and how did they get here . . .
Mixed Nacra 17 – Leading the Team GB selection are Tokyo 2020 silver medal winners John Gimson and Anna Burnet, the nearet thing Team GB has to a medal banker.
They sealed their Paris place with a bronze in the mixed multihull fleet at the Olympic Test event in July, in Marseille, the venue for the Paris 2024 sailing competition followed by the runners-up spot at the World Championships in August.
Women 49erFX Skiff – Also returning for another tilt at Olympic glory is Saskia Tidey, who with two previous Olympic Games under her belt will be the most experienced member of the sailing team.
Tidey is picked in the women’s skiff class alongside crew mate Freya Black, the youngest sailor in the Team GB sailing line-up at just 22 years old.
Tidey and Black placed 5th at the Worlds and 7th at the Olympic Test event, so there is work to do to get onto the podium.
Men 49er Skiff – James Peters and Fynn Sterritt will look to continue Britain’s success in the men’s skiff on their Olympic debut. They were 6th at the worlds and 9th at the Test event . . . again leaving them work to do to raise their game.
Women’s iQFOiL Windsurfer – Emma Wilson has enjoyed a solid summer, with bronze at the iQFOiL Europeans followed up with a silver at the Test event, and a bronze at the Worlds.
Her selection for Team GB is all the more impressive given she has only been racing the iQFOiL, the foiling windsurfer new for Paris 2024, for two years.
Men’s iQFOiL Windsurfer – Sam Sills earned his place with Team GB after winning the men’s iQFOiL class at the Princess Sofia regatta in Mallorca earier this year, following it up with a fifth at the Sailing World Championships and a seventh at the Olympic Test event.
Men ILCA 7 Dinghy – Michael Beckett will pick up the mantle in the men’s dinghy. After silver medals at the worlds and the test event. He now has to raise his game to finally break Australia’s three-Games winning streak in the class.
Women Formula Kite – Ellie Aldridge’s historic European title win just two weeks ago at Portsmouth, following on her silver medals at the Test event and the worlds, secured her place as the sole representative in the kite class, the second of the two new sailing disciplines for Paris 2024.
The selection for the outstanding event, the women’s ILCA 6, will likely be decided at the World Championships in Mar del Plata, Argentina.
Hannah Snellgrove was the test event choice where she finished 9th, and she will compete with two other GBR team sailors – Matilda Nicholls and Daisy Collingridge – at the ILCA world championship in January.
There are also two events, the men’s Kite and the mixed 470 dinghy, which Britain has yet to qualify for.
Connor Bainbridge, in the Kite, has come close to qualification but will have to try again in April. While the 470 dinghy teams will have a chance at Palma de Mallorca, Spain, at the end of February.
The Paris 2024 Olympic Games will take place from July 26 to August 11 next year.
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First athletes selected to Team GB for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games