Hannah Snellgrove

Snellgrove started sailing aged seven at the Salterns club in Lymington as a way of skipping traditional sports in PE sessions.[1] She joined the British Sailing Team in 2011[1] but missed out on selection for the 2012 Summer Olympics and then, just weeks after the 2014 Sailing World Championships, she was dropped from the national squad.[2]

During the next four years she self-funded her career through performing with her folk band named Bimbling, sailing coaching and working as a reporter at a local newspaper.[1]

Snellgrove crowdfunded to pay for a new boat - raising £7,000 in just three weeks - and found new sponsors before taking part in the 2018 Sailing World Championships in Aarhus, Denmark, where she impressed the selectors enough to get back on the British team.[2]

At the 2019 Women's ILCA 6 World Championship in Japan, Snellgrove secured her best finish to date at the global event coming seventh.[3] However, she missed out on selection for the 2020 Summer Olympics.[2]

In 2022, Snellgrove suffered a back injury which left her considering retirement, but she bounced back to finish 11th at the 2023 Sailing World Championships in The Hague, Netherlands, to secure Great Britain a quota spot for the 2024 Summer Olympics.[4][5]

She finished 10th at the next edition of the Women's ILCA 6 World Championship in Mar del Plata, Argentina, in January 2024[6][7] and the following month was officially named in the team for the Paris Olympics.[8][9]

Snellgrove studied Natural Sciences at Gonville and Caius College at the University of Cambridge[2] achieving a first-class degree.[4]