Hannah Mills

Last updated

Hannah Mills
OBE
Hannah Mills.jpg
Personal information
Full nameHannah Louise Mills
NationalityWelsh
Born (1988-02-29) 29 February 1988 (age 35)
Cardiff, South Glamorgan, Wales
Height157 cm (5 ft 2 in)
Weight50 kg (110 lb)
Sailing career
Class(es) Optimist, 420, 470
Medal record
Sailing
Representing Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Great Britain

Graduated from University of Bristol with a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering

Contents

Olympic Games
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2020 Tokyo Women's 470
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2016 Rio de Janeiro Women's 470
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 2012 London Women's 470
World Championships
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg2006 Las Palmas Women's 420
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2012 Barcelona Women's 470
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2019 Enoshina Women's 470
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 2011 Perth Women's 470
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 2015 Haifa Women's 470
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 2017 Thessaloniki Women's 470
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg 2014 Santander Women's 470
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg 2018 Aarhus Women's 470
Junior World Championships
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2008 Gdynia Women's 470
European Championships
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 2014 Athens Women's 470
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 2019 Sanremo Women’s 470
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 2021 Vilamoura Women’s 470
European Junior Championships
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg2007 NetherlandsWomen's 470
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg2008 Croatia Women's 470
Star Sailors League
Skipper
rank		Highest:
2 		1 March 2022:
8

Hannah Louise Mills, OBE (born 29 February 1988) is a British competitive sailor and two-time world champion in the Women's 470 class, having won in 2012 and 2019. Mills won a silver medal for Team GB with her crew Saskia Clark in the 2012 Olympics, [1] she followed this up with a gold in the same event at both the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro [2] and, partnered by Eilidh McIntyre, the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo [3]

Early life

Mills was born in Cardiff, Wales, and started sailing at Cardiff Sailing Centre (then Llanishen Sailing Centre) when she was 8 years old [1] [4] [5] after trying sailing on a family holiday in Cornwall. [6] Mills then started moving up to sail for the Welsh National Optimist Squad and winning the British Optimist Championships in 2001. [4] She represented GBR at the 2002 and 2003 Optimist World Championship finishing first girl and fifth over-all in 2003, the best ever result by a British sailor at that championship.

Mills attended Howell's School, Llandaff in her teen years, with her now retired relative being a teacher there. She is part of the schools pay only alumnus programme, sometimes visiting the school to talk about her achievements.

Career

Mills at Senedd Cymru - Welsh Parliament; 2016 Hannah Mills and Becky James with 2016 Olympic Medals (cropped).jpg
Mills at Senedd Cymru – Welsh Parliament; 2016

At the 2011 Skandia Sail for Gold regatta and the 2011 Weymouth & Portland International Regatta, Hannah won a silver medal in the 470 Women class. [7]

After suffering a black flag in the very first race of the championships, Hannah and her crew Saskia claimed gold at the 2012 470 World Championships in Barcelona. [8]

On 10 August 2012 Hannah Mills helming for Saskia Clark won a silver medal at the Olympic games in Weymouth. Mills battled hard throughout the event, not finishing outside the top 6 the entire regatta. She went into the medal race with crew Saskia Clark equal points with the New Zealand team and far enough ahead of the rest of the fleet that both boats were battling it out for Gold and Silver. After a great start, however, there was a dramatic wind shift and they came 9th in the medal race, which gave them the silver medal. [9]

On 10 December 2014, Mills and Clark were robbed at knifepoint in Rio de Janeiro while in training for the 2016 Olympics. [10]

Mills and Clark won gold at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. [2] In October 2019, Mills was named as one among 12 sailors by British Olympic Association for Tokyo 2020. [11]

Mills was selected as one of the GB flag bearers at the 2020 Olympics in Japan, which took place in July 2021.

On 4 August 2021, Hannah Mills and Eilidh McIntyre won a gold medal in the Women's 470 at the Tokyo Olympics.

On 2 December 2021, Hannah won the World Sailor of the Year Awards alongside McIntyre.

Awards and honours

In 2002, Mills was voted UK Young Sailor of the Year and BBC Wales Young Sports Personality of the Year. [12]

Mills won the Female World Sailor of the Year award in 2016. [13]

Mills was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2017 New Year Honours [14] and Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2022 New Year Honours for services to sailing and the environment. [15]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Scheidt</span> Brazilian sailor

Robert Scheidt is a Brazilian sailor who has won two gold medals, two silver medals and a bronze from five Olympic Games and a Star Sailors League Final. He is one of the most successful sailors at Olympic Games and one of the most successful Brazilian Olympic athletes, being one of only two to earn five medals along with fellow sailor Torben Grael, and the only Brazilian sailor to win medals in both dinghy and keelboat classes.

William Ryan is an Australian sailor and an Olympic champion and five time World champion in the men's 470 event with Mathew Belcher.

Michael Mackay McIntyre MBE is a British sailor, who was the Olympic champion in the Star class event at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul. He also competed at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, and won multiple British Finn class championships. In 1989, McIntyre was awarded an MBE for services to yachting.

Chris Draper is a British sailor who has won multiple World and European championships and a bronze medal at the Sailing at the 2004 Olympic competing in the mixed 49er. He has been a winner of the Extreme Sailing Series and was helmsman for Luna Rossa, Italy's America's cup challenger 2011 to 2015. In the 34th Americas cup he became the first Britain to helm in the Louis Vuitton cup final. For the ACWS & 35th America's Cup between 2015 and the Cup event in Bermuda in June 2017 he held the position of Sailing Team Manager / Tactician and Wing trimmer for Softbank Team Japan. In 2019 he became CEO and Wing trimmer for the Great Britain team racing in the newly formed SailGP, racing the F50 hydro foiling catamarans in a global racing circuit. In 2021 he joined the Japanese SailGP team as a Wing Trimmer. winning multiple events during the 2021/2022 SailGP season and finishing runners up overall.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Burling (sailor)</span> New Zealand sailor

Peter Burling is a New Zealand sailor. He was the 2021 America's Cup winning skipper and helmsman, and the 2017 America's Cup winning helmsman of Team New Zealand. Burling won an Olympic gold medal in the 49er class at the 2016 games and silver medals in the 2012 and 2020 Olympics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saskia Clark</span> British sailor

Saskia Clark, is a British sailor and Olympic Gold medalist. She competed in the 2008 Summer Olympics and she was selected, along with Hannah Mills, to sail in the 470 Women's class for Team GB. They went on to win silver at the 2012 Olympic games and a gold medal at the 2016 games.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jo Aleh</span> New Zealand sailor

Joanna Ayela Aleh is a New Zealand sailor. She is a national champion, a former world champion, and an Olympic gold medallist.

Annalise Murphy is an Irish sailor who won a silver medal in the 2016 Summer Olympics. She competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo 2021, in Laser Radial.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Luke Patience</span> British Olympic sailor (born 1986)

Luke Patience is a British Olympic sailor. He competed with Stuart Bithell at the 2012 Summer Olympics, and the team won a silver medal.

Stuart Bithell is a British sailor and Olympic champion. He competed with Luke Patience in the 470 class at the 2012 Summer Olympics where he won a silver medal and in the 2020 Summer Olympics where he won a gold medal in the Men's 49er class with Dylan Fletcher.

Šime Fantela is a Croatian professional sailor. Competing in the 470 class with Igor Marenić, he won gold at the 2016 Summer Olympics, the 2009 World Championships, and three European Championships.

Cardiff Sailing Centre is a Cardiff Council run watersports facility based on Cardiff Bay Barrage in Cardiff Bay. The centre runs dinghy & keelboat sailing, windsurfing, powerboat and other shore-based courses.

Anton Carl Diderik Dahlberg is a Swedish sailor, who specializes in the 470 class, a two-person dinghy. He has represented Sweden, along with his partner Sebastian Östling, in two editions of the Olympic Games, and with Fredrik Bergström in 2016 and 2020, winning an Olympic silver in 2020. He has been representing the Royal Swedish Yacht Club throughout most of his career.

Sophie Claire Ainsworth is a British sailor who qualified to compete at the 2016 Summer Olympics being held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Charlotte Fletcher-Scott is a British sailor who competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics and 2020 Summer Olympics.

Dylan James Fletcher-Scott is a British sailor and Olympic champion in Men's 49er in Tokyo 2020. Fletcher and Alain Sign placed sixth in the 49er event at the 2016 Summer Olympics.

Ruggero Tita is an Italian sailor. He competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics, with Caterina Banti, in Nacra 17, winning a gold medal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Great Britain at the 2020 Summer Olympics</span> Sporting event delegation

Great Britain, or in full Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the team of the British Olympic Association (BOA), which represents the United Kingdom, competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Originally scheduled to take place from 24 July to 9 August 2020, the Games were postponed to 23 July to 8 August 2021, because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Lim Min, known as Kimberly Lim, is a Singaporean sailor. She was a multiple medalist in various sailing classes in various editions of the Asian Games and also the champion of the Optimist World Championships in 2011. She participated in the 2020 Summer Olympics.

Eilidh Jane McIntyre is a British former sailor, who won the gold medal alongside Hannah Mills in the 470 event at the 2020 Summer Olympics. She won the 2019 470 World Championships, and came second at the 2017 470 World Championships. She finished third at the 2015 470 European Championships, and second at the 2019 and 2021 events, as well as having won multiple Sailing World Cup medals. In 2022, McIntyre was awarded an MBE for services to yachting.

References

  1. 1 2 "Silver delight for Olympic 2012 sailor Hannah Mills". BBC. 10 August 2012. Retrieved 11 August 2012.
  2. 1 2 "Rio Olympics 2016: Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark forced to wait for 470 sailing gold". BBC News. Retrieved 17 August 2016.
  3. ↑ "GB pair Hannah Mills and Eilidh McIntyre win gold in 470 class". Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Archived from the original on 4 August 2021. Retrieved 4 August 2021.
  4. 1 2 Stuart, Hamish (20 September 2011). "Hannah's Olympic boost for Welsh sailing". Yachts and Yachting. Retrieved 14 January 2012.
  5. ↑ "Behind Every Star – Hannah Mills and Ollie Green". Sport Wales. Archived from the original on 12 August 2016. Retrieved 25 January 2012.
  6. ↑ "Hannah Mills – the 'enigma'". The Daily Sail. Retrieved 18 August 2016.
  7. ↑ "ISAF Sailor Profile". sailing.org. ISAF . Retrieved 14 January 2012.[ dead link ]
  8. ↑ "Mills and Clark make history with first 470 Worlds win". RYA.org.uk. Retrieved 19 May 2012.
  9. ↑ Bull, Andy (16 August 2016). "Great Britain's Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark on brink of striking 470 gold". The Guardian. Retrieved 3 November 2016.
  10. ↑ BBC Sport – "Hannah Mills & Saskia Clark robbed at knifepoint in Rio", 11 December. Retrieved 11 December 2014
  11. ↑ "Sailors picked as first Team GB athletes for Tokyo 2020". World Sailing. Retrieved 2 October 2019.
  12. ↑ "Hannah Mills – Team GB Profile". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 13 June 2012. Retrieved 14 January 2012.
  13. ↑ "World Sailor of the Year: Britain's Hannah Mills & Saskia Clark win top female prize". BBC. 9 November 2016. Retrieved 31 December 2016.
  14. ↑ "The London Gazette – New Years Honours List" (PDF). 30 December 2016. p. 21. Retrieved 30 December 2016.
  15. ↑ "The London Gazette – New Years Honours List". 30 December 2021. p. 1. Retrieved 1 January 2022.
Olympic Games
Preceded by Flagbearer for Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Great Britain
(with Moe Sbihi)
Tokyo 2020 		Succeeded by
Incumbent
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.