Athena Pathway, the British team supported by Cobham Ultra and racing for the Royal Yacht Squadron Ltd, has been narrowly beaten at the first ever PUIG Women’s America’s Cup Final.
The team, skippered by three-time Olympic medallist Hannah Mills, faced the Italian team Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli in the one-race ‘ultimate jeopardy’ final on Saturday, after they fought off 10 other nations for the two coveted spots. It was an extremely close battle, with Athena Pathway pushing the Italians hard all the way around the course. Luna Rossa managed to secure the win, but the Brits were just 8 seconds behind.
Athena Pathway Team Principal and Skipper Hannah Mills said: “It’s been an amazing campaign. We have put so much into this and I’m so proud of all of our team that have worked extremely hard to get us to this point. This is just the beginning for women’s sailing and women in the America’s Cup and I’m so proud to be a part of the first ever women’s event. It’s obviously gutting to not deliver today but for all the young girls watching, this is happening and it will be your turn next.”
With the chance to enter the history books by winning the inaugural event resting on just one, six-leg race, there was a lot of pressure on the start. The Italians chose to lead back with plenty of time to kill, but they won the left-hand end of the line which proved advantageous. Luna Rossa turned the narrow advantage into a six-second lead at the first gate, a gap that didn’t shift on the second leg. Once they were going back upwind, the Italians were able to push the British boat back. That was the pattern for the next lap and a half, and by gate 5 Hannah Mills and her team were looking at a 19-second deficit. They made a fantastic push on the final downwind leg, but it wasn’t quite enough with Italy taking the Puig Women’s America’s Cup with an eight-second margin.
The PUIG Women’s America’s Cup Final took place on the opening day of the 37th America’s Cup Match, where Ben Ainslie’s INEOS Britannia faced Defenders Emirates Team New Zealand in the first two races of the first-to-seven series. Joining Mills on the AC40 for the Final was SailGP Strategist Tash Bryant as Co-Helm, with Mills’ previous Olympic partner Saskia Clark and SailGP teammate Hannah Diamond as Trimmers. The Athena Pathway PUIG Women’s America’s Cup team also included Olympic Kite Sailing Champion Ellie Aldridge, Tokyo Olympic silver medalist Anna Burnet and 2023 WASZP World Female Champion Hattie Rogers as reserve athletes.
The PUIG Women’s America’s Cup marked a pivotal moment in the 173-year history of the America’s Cup, with it being the first-ever women’s event. Athena Pathway was launched in August 2022 by Mills and Sir Ben Ainslie, two of Britain’s most successful Olympic sailors, with the aim of fast-tracking development in high-performance sailing and bringing diversity to the sport and the UK marine industry more broadly.
Mills added: “It was amazing to be racing on the first day of 37th America’s Cup Match, there were so many spectators out there and it really felt like we were on the global stage. It was so cool to be out there and show what we can do. Ben and I set up Athena Pathway to support young people and women coming into the marine industry and to be able to have British teams competing in the Women’s and Youth America’s Cup as part of Athena Pathway has been incredible. While these events are over with now, we have so much going on with the pathway including a WASZP foiling programme in Weymouth and an amazing STEM roadshow going on in school around the UK to inspire them to take up these subjects, so there’s much more to come.”
