| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Nationality | British |
| Born | 9 July 1990 [1] Lymington, Hampshire, England [1] |
| Sailing career | |
| Class | ILCA 6 |
Hannah Snellgrove OLY (born 9 July 1990) is a British sailor who has represented her country at multiple world championships and the 2024 Summer Olympics in the ILCA 6 class.
Snellgrove started sailing aged seven at the Salterns club in Lymington as a way of skipping traditional sports in PE sessions. [1] She joined the British Sailing Team in 2011 [1] but missed out on selection for the 2012 Summer Olympics and then, just weeks after the 2014 Sailing World Championships, she was dropped from the national squad. [2]
During the next four years she self-funded her career through performing with her folk band named Bimbling, sailing coaching and working as a reporter at a local newspaper. [1]
Snellgrove crowdfunded to pay for a new boat - raising £7,000 in just three weeks - and found new sponsors before taking part in the 2018 Sailing World Championships in Aarhus, Denmark, where she impressed the selectors enough to get back on the British team. [2]
At the 2019 Women's ILCA 6 World Championship in Japan, Snellgrove secured her best finish to date at the global event coming seventh. [3] However, she missed out on selection for the 2020 Summer Olympics. [2]
In 2022, Snellgrove suffered a back injury which left her considering retirement, but she bounced back to finish 11th at the 2023 Sailing World Championships in The Hague, Netherlands, to secure Great Britain a quota spot for the 2024 Summer Olympics. [4] [5]
She finished 10th at the next edition of the Women's ILCA 6 World Championship in Mar del Plata, Argentina, in January 2024 [6] [7] and the following month was officially named in the team for the Paris Olympics. [8] [9]
At the Olympic regatta, Snellgrove won two of the early races [10] [11] [12] before slipping down the field after a poor set of results in races seven and eight. [13] [14] She eventually finished 12th, missing out on the final day medal race. [15]
Snellgrove studied Natural Sciences at Gonville and Caius College at the University of Cambridge [2] achieving a first-class degree. [4]