The British Olympic Association has named Hannah Snellgrove as the 11th sailor for Team GB at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
Hannah, 33, will take on the world’s best in Marseille this summer in the women’s dinghy class sailing the ILCA 6, formerly known as the Laser Radial. Hannah secured a country quota place for Team GB at the 2023 Sailing World Championships last August with an 11thplace finish, then won selection after finishing 10th at the 2024 World Championships last month.
She joins a stellar cast of athletes, announced for Team GB in October last year, including Tokyo 2020 medallists John Gimson, Anna Burnet and Emma Wilson, and two-time Olympian Saskia Tidey. Hannah will be among a host of Olympic debutants including James Peters, Fynn Sterritt, Freya Black, Ellie Aldridge, Micky Beckett and Sam Sills.
She represented Britain at the Paris 2024 test event in Marseille last summer, finishing ninth, picked up a silver medal at the 2022 Princess Sofia Trophy regatta and has three national titles to her name.
Hannah, from Lymington, Hants, said: “It’s the biggest honour to be selected for Team GB. It’s been quite the 26-year project since first setting foot in a boat, and I think it would be fair to say I’ve taken the scenic route.
“The Olympics is the pinnacle of our sport and it’s an opportunity to share the experience and thrills of racing at the highest level with friends and family and all those who have supported me along the way. It’s really humbling to think of all the things that people have done to help me during the course of my career.
“I would love to stand on the podium at the Games, but my biggest goal is to go out in August and give a performance that I know is the absolute best version of myself as an athlete.”
Mark Robinson, RYA Performance Director and Team GB sailing team leader, said: “It is a great pleasure to announce Hannah’s selection to Team GB today. Such is the British Sailing Team’s strength over many Olympic cycles, with only one representative allowed to represent Great Britain in each class at the Games, it is often a long journey for our sailors to reach this pinnacle. I am very pleased that Hannah has had the determination to stick with her goal to reach this point. I am sure she will represent Team GB with this immense inner drive and will do us proud at Paris 2024.”
Mark England, Team GB Chef de Mission, said: “Congratulations to Hannah on her selection to Team GB for Paris 2024. Olympic selection is highly competitive, and Hannah has shown a huge amount of tenacity and resilience throughout her sailing career, and I am delighted that she will be able to fulfil her Olympic ambitions this summer in Marseille.”
Team GB has a rich history of excellence in Olympic sailing competition, having won 64 medals, including 31 golds, more than any other nation. Team GB has topped the sailing medal table at five of the past six Olympic Games.
Former Team GB athletes Sir Ben Ainslie and Hannah Mills are the most successful male and female Olympic sailors of all time; Ben with four golds and a silver, Hannah with two golds and a silver.
The sailors selected for Paris 2024 are:
John Gimson and Anna Burnet – Mixed Multihull (Nacra 17)
James Peters and Fynn Sterritt – Men’s Skiff (49er)
Freya Black and Saskia Tidey – Women’s Skiff (49erFX)
Emma Wilson – Women’s Windsurfing (iQFOiL)
Sam Sills – Men’s Windsurfing (iQFOiL)
Ellie Aldridge – Women’s Kite (Formula Kite)
Michael Beckett – Men’s Dinghy (ILCA 7)
Hannah Snellgrove – Women’s Dinghy (ILCA 6)
Selection for the Men’s Kite (Formula Kite) and Mixed Dinghy (470) classes is still ongoing.
