Hannah Mills Becomes Most Successful Female Olympic Sailor of All Time
Hannah Mills and Eilidh McIntyre have won the gold medal for Great Britain in the women’s 470-class sailing event at the Tokyo Olympics.
Poland’s Agnieszka Skrzypulec and Jolanta Ogar took silver, with Camille Lecointre and Aloise Retornaz bringing home the bronze for France.
Mills and McIntyre had dominated the regatta at Enoshima Harbour, winning two races and only twice finishing outside the top four, and they went into the medal race with a 14-point lead.
That meant they only needed to finish in the top seven to clinch gold and they were never in any danger, crossing the line comfortably in fifth.
Mills, who became Britain’s most successful Olympic female sailor of all-time with the gold medal triumph, said: “It’s been one of the hardest weeks of my life. I’m sure for Eilidh as well, just every day, not being able to eat, just nerves building up, the emotion of just we’ve done it.
“It’s over. We’ve done what we came here to do and it’s amazing.
“Growing up, a lot of Olympians dreamed of being here one day and standing on top of the podium. And to do it twice with Saskia [Clark] before and Eilidh this time, I’ve had two incredible crews to sail with and I just feel incredibly lucky.
“The team around us here have been phenomenal. Big shout out to The National Lottery and everyone who plays the lottery because without you guys, we wouldn’t be here either.
“The support back home has been unreal so thank you everyone.”