Nanjing Youth Olympic Games - Hanna Brant set to represent Team GB

by RYA on 16 Aug 2014 The British Youth Sailing Team's Hanna Brant insists she will make the most of her time on the big stage at this month’s Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing.

The first time 15-year-old Brant took to the water she knew it wasn’t going to be the last.

That was five years ago and now Brant is gearing for the biggest competition of her fledgling career as she prepares to compete for Team GB in the Youth Olympic Games.

It all came about when Brant finished as the third-highest female, and sixth overall, in the Byte II category at the World Championships in Riva del Garda back in April.

And Brant admits the Games, which will take place in Nanjing between August 16 and 28, are about as far away as she can get from first setting sail with her dad when she was just ten years old.

'I’ve known that I would be going to China for about two months but I couldn’t say anything which was difficult,' said Brant, a pupil at St Helen and St Katharine School.

'I didn’t really believe it at first but now that it’s sunk in a bit it’s given me so much confidence.

'I think I’m just going to go out there now and do as well as I can and hopefully make an impact.

'To go and represent Team GB at the Youth Olympics is just incredible and I’m so excited.

'This will be the biggest event I have ever been to and the whole atmosphere is going to me amazing.

'We had to go to Italy to qualify at the Worlds and I finished third and was just so happy.'

Brant harbours ambitions to sail at the Tokyo Olympics in 2020 and says that the opportunity to go to China and sample the Games atmosphere is one that can help propel her closer to that goal.

Brant is a member of Oxford Sailing Club and, while Nanjing might be a far cry from the waters of Oxfordshire, she says she’ll never forget her first moments on a boat.

'I’ve been sailing since I was ten and my dad was a big sailor so he got me into it,' she added.

'I remember watching him sail a lot and one day he just asked me if I wanted to go out on the water with him. 'I went along and it was incredible. It was so exhilarating to have the wind in your hair and I had so much fun.

'I still feel that when I’m out there now and that’s what keeps me going out there.

'I would love to go to the Olympics one day and this has given me so much confidence that I can make it to 2020.'

For more information, visit: Nanjing 2014
For further information on Team GB, click here