2012 OLYMPIC HOPEFULS MILLS AND HUGHES ON TOP OF THE WORLD
2012 Olympic hopefuls Hannah Mills and Katrina Hughes took the world by storm steaming in to win the Ladies Junior 470 World Championships in Gydnia, Poland yesterday.
The Spanish girls of Tara Pacheco and Berta Betanzos started the week at the top of the fleet only to be overtaken by Mills and Hughes on day 3. From then on it would appear that the British girls could do no wrong scoring bullets in the next 7 races. This put Mills, from Dinas Powys, and Hughes, from Leigh on Sea, in pole position for the Medal race.
Mills said “Even though we knew we could not be worse than 2nd the medal race was one of the toughest races I have ever sailed. We knew we had to keep an eye on the Spanish Team as we could not let them get too far in front of us otherwise we would loose the title”.
The girls started sailing the boat together at the start of 2007 and have already posted top 10 results in major ISAF World ranking events. Their natural sailing ability caught the attention of the “Yngling girls” who invited them out to China as their training partners in early July.
Hughes said “it was a great experience and fantastic opportunity to see the Olympic set up at close quarters.”
Mills and Hughes are now off to Zadar in Croatia to try and retain their Junior European Ladies 470 crown. The event runs from the 7th – 15th August.
Hannah
Hannah Mills, 20 is one of Britain’s most promising young dinghy sailors whose long-term goal is to win a Gold medal at the 2012 London Olympics. She first took the World of sailing by storm by winning the girls Optimist World championships in 2003 and finishing overall with the best result Britain has ever had.
Her talent has subsequently been tested in the highly competitive double-handed, International 420 class where paired with crew Peggy Webster, Hannah has continued to excel. The highlight of her career to date was being selected to represent GBR at the ISAF Youth World Championships in 2005. The following year the girls won the 420 Open Ladies World championships.
Hannah has now teamed up with Katrina Hughes in an International 470 (Olympic class) and they are working towards the 2012 London Olympics.
Hannah and Katrina are members of Skandia Team GBR and as such are now partially supported by Lottery funding and the RYA. They are actively looking for sponsors to help fund their Olympic campaign.
CAREER HIGHLIGHTS
International 470 – sailing with Katrina Hughes
May-08 Winners RYA Spring Series
May-08 National ranking event Hayling 3rd overall
Mar-08 Princessa Sofia Regatta Palma Majorca - 10th
Aug-07 Junior Ladies 470 European Champions
Jan-07 Started sailing with Katrina Hughes
Sep-06 Invited to join the Olympic Development Squad
International 420 – sailing with Peggy Webster
Aug-06 Girls Junior European Champions, Tavira, Portugal
Jul-06 Open Ladies World Champions, Las Palmas, Gran Canaria
Aug-05 Girls Junior European Champions, Riva del Garda, Italy
Aug-05 420 National Ladies champions, Weymouth
Jul-05 ISAF Youth World championships, Busan Korea – 4th
Apr-05 420 RYA Youth National ladies Champions, Weymouth. Chosen as RYA Youth Girls representative for ISAF Youth Worlds in Busan, Korea
Jul-04 Open European championships, Zadar Croatia. 1st U.17 girls boat and 16th overall
May-04 420 Selections- Chosen to represent GBR at the open European Championships in Zadar, Croatia
Jan-04 World championships Melbourne Australia. U.19 Ladies World Champions
Sep-03 Selection trials for the World Championships in Australia (top 7 girls and top 7 boys crews selected). They were 7th girls crew and 19th overall.
Aug-03 420 National championships, Helensborough 28th female boat and 51st overall.
Optimist
Aug-03 Girls World Champion and 5th overall. Las Palmas Gran Canaria best British result ever, not beaten yet!
May-03 Overall winner Optimist selections. 1st girl to ever do this and chosen to represent GBR at the World championships in Gran Canaria.
Apr-03 Overall winner Bressemermeer Easter Regatta, Holland. First ever for a British girl.
Oct-02 No 1 UK ranking. First for a girl
Aug-02 Winner UK National Optimist Championship, first ever for a girl.
Jul-02 World Championships, Texas. 2nd girl and 9th overall best Bristish result ever.
May-02 Selection trial for Worlds and European teams. 2nd overall – selected represent GBR at World championships in Texas.
Apr-02 Welsh Youth Champion overall
Awards
• Runner up Sunday Times sportswoman of the Year, Newcomer 2003
• UK Young Sailor of the Year 2002
• Welsh Young sailor of the Year 2000-2003
• BBC Wales Young Female sports Personality of the Year 2002
• OCS Regional winner Young Sports Personality of the Year 2002
• Welsh Awards Young Personality of the year 2002
TESTIMONIALS
“Sailing in the wake of Olympic champions is a daunting task, yet for somebody so young, Hannah Mills exudes a confidence that separates her from her peers.”
The Sunday Times
“Hannah Mills, one of Britain’s most promising yachtswomen, is not your average British teenager. It is unusual for a yachtswoman to get private sponsorship at her stage, but it is a measure of her potential that she has secured it so early in her career… If Mills and Webster do well then they will almost certainly win a place in the Olympic development squad.”
Evening Standard
“A modest young sailor who enjoys her sailing as much as her concealed desire to win. She is an enigma.”
The Daily Sail
For more information about Hannah Mills, please visit Hannah's website www.hannahmills.com
