‘Have A Steady First Day'

ANDY RICE talks to Hannah Mills about her ‘perfect race’, her first outing at Weymouth 2012 with Saskia Clark. “Have a steady first day,” their coach had advised...

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Hannah Mills and Eilidh McIntyre are looking in great shape to defend the Women’s 470 Olympic title that Mills won with Saskia Clark at Rio 2016. Having previously won silver and bronze medals at the previous two 470 World Championships, Mills and McIntyre were gunning for the gold at this summer’s Worlds in Japan – and they got it. With barely a pause between regattas, they and the rest of the 470 fleet quickly moved on to Ready Steady Tokyo, the Olympic Test Regatta. After a very solid qualifying regatta they entered the final day ready to go into a match race for gold with the French team in the Medal Race. Unfortunately, Mills and McIntyre started a fraction too soon and as they turned back to restart they knew that the gold had got away. Still, a silver medal hot on the heels of victory at the Worlds has set them up nicely for the final run-in to Tokyo 2020.

Tokyo will be Mills’s third Games, while for McIntyre it will be her first. However, McIntyre has grown up steeped in the knowledge of what it takes to win an Olympic medal, her father Mike having won Star gold for Great Britain in a thrilling contest at the 1988 Games in Korea. Mills’s experience will be a vital asset to take to Tokyo, with London silver and Rio gold showing just what a formidably competitive force she can be when it really matters.