Olympic champion Hannah Mills believes she and teammate Eilidh McIntyre have even more to give as they claimed the runner-up spot at the 470 European Championships, their last big regatta before Tokyo 2020.
The Rio 2016 gold medallist said she and Eilidh have not yet hit their full potential – and will now throw everything at hitting their peak when racing gets underway in Japan in next month.
Hayling Island’s Eilidh McIntyre, for whom Tokyo will be the first Olympic Games, said: “It feels so good to be back on the podium. We do not like to make it easy for ourselves, but we had a little less drama this time. We are really excited to get the silver but big picture-wise we haemorrhaged some points early on. We have plenty more learning to take to Tokyo.”
In the mixed fleet, the new format for the Paris 2024 Olympics, Vita Heathcote and Ryan Orr made amends for a disappointing world championship by claiming European bronze.
Ryan said: “Mental toughness is a massive part of sailing at the top level, and we had to rebuild our confidence on the start line after the double disqualifications at the worlds.”
In the men’s fleet, Martin Wrigley and Alex Hughes signed off an impressive week with their third win in 12 races to finish seventh overall. The pair joined forces last year to be training partners to Team GB’s Luke Patience and Chris Grube, and finished this regatta one place ahead of the Tokyo-bound sailors.
