Sailors picked as first Team GB athletes for Tokyo 2020

Gold medallists Hannah Mills and Giles Scott are among 12 sailors named by the British Olympic Association (BOA) as the first Team GB athletes selected for Tokyo 2020.

The Rio 2016 champions are joined by a host of elite sailors representing eight of the 10 Olympic sailing classes, as the team is announced at Haven Holiday Park, Rockley Park in Poole.

A Tokyo 2020 gold or silver medal for Mills would make her the most successful female Olympic sailor of all time. She will look to defend her crown in the 470 Women’s event alongside crew Eilidh McIntyre, who makes her Olympic debut 32 years after her dad Mike won gold for GB in the Star class.

Mills and McIntyre have rarely been off the podium since teaming up in 2017, with their success culminating in victory at the 2019 World Championships and silver at the Ready Steady Tokyo test event this summer.

Scott has also enjoyed a run of success in 2019, claiming his third Finn class European title and a bronze at Ready Steady Tokyo.

Returning for another tilt at Olympic glory are London 2012 silver medallists Luke Patience and Stuart Bithell.

Patience, sailing in his third Olympics, will compete in the 470 Men class alongside Rio 2016 crew Chris Grube, while Bithell will fly the flag for Britain in the 49er class with Rio Olympian Dylan Fletcher.

Olympian Charlotte Dobson returns in the 49er FX, joined by Saskia Tidey who represented Ireland at Rio 2016 before joining the British team in 2017.

Both representatives in the RS:X windsurfer class are newcomers to the Olympics: Tom Squires and Emma Wilson, who at 20 years old is the youngest athlete announced.

Squires takes up the mantle from veteran Olympian Nick Dempsey, the most decorated Olympic windsurfer of all time with five Games and three medals to his name.

Wilson, the daughter of 1988 and 1992 Olympic windsurfer Penny Way, will look to win Britain’s first Olympic medal in women’s windsurfing since Bryony Shaw’s bronze at Beijing 2008.

Alison Young, the 2015 Laser Radial World Champion, earns her third Team GB call-up to round off the first wave of sailing selections for Tokyo 2020.

Britain has a rich history of excellence in Olympic competition, having won 58 medals – including 28 golds – since sailing made its debut at Paris 1900. Team GB currently tops the overall Olympic sailing medal table.