Athena Pathway Team Principal Hannah Mills reflects on a momentous year for the British Women’s and Youth America’s Cup Teams
Following a momentous year where the Athena Pathway British Women’s and Youth America’s Cup teams came second and third in their respective competitions, Team Principal Hannah Mills OBE reflects on their journey and exciting developments for the future.
The Barcelona Debrief

© Ian Roman / America's Cup
“Looking back on our time in Barcelona, it’s amazing to see what we achieved as a team both on and off the water. We had a third place finish in the UniCredit Youth America’s Cup and second in the PUIG Women’s America’s Cup, and while at the time we were obviously disappointed to not win one or both of the events, to see the awareness and engagement it brought to the sport was incredible. It felt like we really accomplished what we set out to do, which was to create a development programme which created opportunities for people both on and off the water. Seeing the progression of people in the team, and not just the sailors but those on shore too such as Suzy Peters our Electronics Engineer and our Boat Captain Sophie Heritage, I look back and feel really proud of what we managed to achieve in a short space of time.

“We are now in a really good place moving forward to make the Athena Pathway Programme bigger and better, focusing on building towards the next America’s Cup. We learned so much from our experience this year that we can continue developing and come back stronger for the next campaign, so I’m really excited by that. We’ve had some really good conversations and there are some big announcements to come about what the Athena Pathway Programme will look like going forward.”
Post-Barcelona Developments

“Since returning from Barcelona we’ve barely had time to take a breath before heading to Dubai with the Emirates GBR SailGP Team for the first Sail Grand Prix of the new season. It was an amazing trip with our development sailor Kai Hockley getting on-board the F50 race boat for the first time, and also the dedicated Women’s Performance Camp delivered by DP World. I got some good time in the Driver position and it was great to see Kai get some hours in on the Grinding handles. We will continue providing him with training time on-board the F50 at each event and also support him with a WASZP campaign through the Athena Foiling Programme, with the aim of him competing at the WASZP Worlds in 2025.

“Our Youth America’s Cup Team Helm Nick Robins has also had some exciting progress since returning from Barcelona. Off the back of the work he did with the programme around systems, data and performance, he now has a role as an Analyst with Emirates GBR and will be heading to each event this season. I’m really excited to see the progress he will make.”

The Next Generation
“Looking ahead to next year, we have plans to expand the UK side of the Athena Pathway Programme, so sign up to our newsletter for the latest developments and new opportunities to become part of the programme. We’re going to be recruiting more people across various aspects of the programme including sailors, shore side and admin-based roles. I’m hoping it won’t be too long until the AC40s are back up and running and we will also have our simulator available in the UK to start the hunt for the next generation of youth and women’s team sailors.”