As Sir Ben Ainslie and his Great Britain SailGP Team head across to Singapore, the team is excited to welcome back the current World Sailor of the Year Hannah Mills, to the team line up for the first time this season.
Singapore will see Mills step back into the strategist role for the British team alongside Hannah Diamond adding a second female athlete to the GBR squad for consecutive events.
Mills, who celebrated the birth of her first child in October, has been supporting the team this season from the shorelines through the team’s purpose commitments which included launching the Athena Pathway Programme, a new pathway for female and youth athletes fast-tracking development in professional sailing, on and off the water, including SailGP.
The British team had a solid weekend of racing last time out in Dubai at the end of last year (12/13 Nov 2022) and despite a bittersweet finish in a dramatic podium final, will be looking to continue its climb up the leader board and tap into some of the ‘Mills magic’ in Singapore.
The race is well and truly on as they sail the seas for the next three APAC events before that all- encompassing San Francisco ‘million-dollar’ Grand Final in May. Off the water, the competition is also heating up with the team coming in close 2 nd to Canada in the Impact League in Dubai. The innovative Impact League is a world-first and rewards the SailGP teams’ positive environmental and social actions resulting in two podiums at the end of the season – one for the planet, one for racing.
The Great Britain SailGP Team members has been engaging in a wide array of purpose and environmental activities across the community in Singapore from the moment they landed. Hannah Mills spent an afternoon inspiring pupils from The Overseas Family School (OFS) on how to ‘protect our pitch’ and take action against Climate Change. Collaborating with the USA team athletes, Hannah taught a ‘Protect Our Future’ lesson on the importance of photosynthesis and plants, like seagrass, have on the Ocean.
The Great Britain SailGP Team will once again be hosting a Climate Impact panel event in collaboration with GREAT Campaign following the success seen in Dubai where a similar event was hosted at The Dubai OffShore Sailing Club. In Singapore, the panel will commence with a keynote welcome speech by Kara Owen, High Commissioner, followed by an in-depth discussion between Sir Ben Ainslie and Hannah Mills from the British team alongside Fiona Morgan, Chief of Purpose at SailGP and James Marshall from Berge Bulk on ‘How Sport can Play a Pivotal Role in the Transition to a Net-Zero Economy and Instigate Positive Change.’
Ahead of the Singapore Sail Grand Prix, Hannah Mills, double Olympic gold medallist and IOC Sustainability Ambassador, shared her feelings on returning to racing:
“I’m really excited to come back to the team, Cádiz 2021 was the last time I raced on an F50, I’ve missed racing so much and I have been training hard to get match fit. However, both the team and the league has been so supportive as I need to be realistic and take my time, we have a plan in place with my teammate, Hannah Diamond, to cover all eventualities and ensure I don’t push myself too far too soon.”
The rest of the crew positions remains the same with Sir Ben Ainslie (GBR) driving the British F50 catamaran, Olympic gold winning rower Matt Gotrel (GBR) and the Isle of Arran’s Neil Hunter (GBR) on the grinding handles. Whilst the wing trim, flight controller and trimmer grinder roles are retained by Iain Jensen (AUS), Luke Parkinson (GBR / AUS) & Nick Hutton (GBR).
British fans can tune in to watch the racing live HERE on Sky Sports from 6am or for free on SailGP’s YouTube channel.
