MILLS Hannah

General
SAILGP ASPIRATIONS
In April 2021 she joined trials in Bermuda for the Great Britain SailGP team ahead of the 2021/22 Global Sailing Championships. "My fellow triallists are hugely talented and it will be a tough challenge to earn the full-time spot. However, I'm a quick learner, a hard worker and incredibly motivated so it's down to me to make the most of it. SailGP is setting the standard for female inclusion in sailing, it will be particularly inspiring for young female sailors to know that these types of opportunities are available at the very top level of our sport." (bbc.co.uk, 19 Apr 2021)

DELAYED RETIREMENT
She had planned to retire from sailing after the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, but was forced to put her plans on hold after the Games were delayed by a year. "It's all-consuming, an Olympic campaign, so it really is a big deal to add another year to it. I just know what it takes to deliver your best performance. It really does take everything you've got. But ultimately I've come on such an incredible journey with Eilidh McIntyre, my crew, it's going to be her first Olympics which is such a cool, special, amazing thing to be a part of. I really believe our team has something great to offer. So when you weigh it up logically and take the emotion out, it's a really easy answer." (bbc.co.uk, 14 Apr 2020)

CREWMATE
Her previous teammate Saskia Clark retired following the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, so in January 2017 she teamed up with Eilidh McIntyre. "I knew that if I went back to the 470, Eilidh was the only option for me. She's super-motivated, really passionate, and absolutely loves sailing and competing. Ultimately, we both want the same thing, we both want an Olympic gold medal [in Tokyo 2020] and we realise without each other that's not going to happen." (bbc.co.uk, 29 Mar 2019)

BIG PLASTIC PLEDGE
She is the founder of Big Plastic Pledge, an environmental campaign aimed at eradicating single-use plastics in sport. She is also a sustainability ambassador for the International Olympic Committee [IOC]. "Sailing has taken me all over the world and for almost two decades I have noticed plastic in the oceans, mainly when it gets stuck under our boat and stops us dead in our tracks. But it didn't resonate with me how bad the problem was getting until the Rio 2016 Olympic cycle. I witnessed first hand the devastating effects of plastic pollution on our oceans and planet. Every beach, marina and coastal area we visited during that four-year period was affected and damaged beyond belief. So much of it was single-use plastic. It was something I couldn't ignore anymore, I had to act. And so, over the past few years, I have set about, along with my teammate Eilidh McIntyre, trying to reduce the single-use plastic from our Olympic campaign." (Big Plastic Pledge Twitter page, 21 Oct 2019; britishsailingteam.rya.org.uk, 16 Sep 2019; bigplasticpledge.com, 01 Jan 2019)