Meet The Team | HANNAH MILLS (OBE)

Meet Hannah Mills OBE, our co-founder and Team Principal. She stands as the most successful female Olympic Sailor in history. Mills is a two-time Olympic Champion and a three-time World Champion in the Women’s 470 class. Her journey to Olympic glory began with a silver medal in London 2012 alongside teammate Saskia Clark, the impressive pair went on to win gold in Rio 2016. Continuing her dominance, Mills went on to win another gold medal in Tokyo 2020, this time partnering with Eilidh McIntyre.

Hannah launched the Athena Pathway Program alongside Sir Ben Ainslie in August 2022, with the aim of fast-tracking development in high-performance sailing and bringing diversity into the sport. With the first-time inclusion of a women’s event in the America’s Cup, there is a renewed emphasis on achieving gender equity and raising the sport’s profile for the younger generations.  The Pathway is founded with sustainability at its core, with an ethos of ‘People, Planet and Purpose’ seeking to encourage athletes to use their voices in the fight against climate change.

Chris Draper, America’s Cup veteran and Athena Pathway COO, said “Hannah’s an incredible leader for this team, providing the team with this awesome opportunity and we’re all really looking forward to getting out on the AC40 in Barcelona. She has performed in a number of different classes, not just Olympic sailing and what she brings to the team is an enormous amount of experience which is a huge asset to all of us”

Hannah is Team Principle across the Athena Pathway Women’s and Youth entries for Great Britain and will helm the British Women’s Americas Cup squad, she said “There’s really nothing like competing for your country on a global stage, and to help support the youth to deliver their potential is an incredibly cool challenge. Were 100% in it to win it.“

In 2021, Hannah made history by joining Sir Ben Ainslie’s SailGP Team as its first female sailor, contributing to the team's success and spearheading the Women’s Pathway Programme within SailGP. Her impact extends beyond the water, as she passionately advocates for environmental sustainability. As an International Olympic Committee Sustainability Ambassador, she launched the Big Plastic Pledge in 2019 and co-founded Athletes of the World, a group dedicated to climate change advocacy.

On building the Athena Pathway AC team Mills said “We can’t contain our excitement to get back out on the water as a full team in our AC40. We’re putting in the hard work now getting our base ready to go and looking forward to hoisting for our first sail at the end of April.”