Mills and Clark bidding to end on fairytale Rio Olympics high

by RYA on 7 Aug 2016 London 2012 470 silver medallists, Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark, admit it would be a “fairytale ending” to top the podium at what is likely to be their final Olympics together as their Rio 2016 campaign gets underway on Wednesday (10 August).

The 2012 World Champions head to Brazil firmly amongst the medal favourites having won silver at both the 2014 and 2015 Olympic Test Events in addition to further silver (2015) and bronze (2014) Worlds medals.

Three-time Olympian Clark, who turns 37 just after the end of the Games on 23 August, is one of the most experienced members of the team and the pair concede that Rio will probably be their Olympic swansong as a partnership.

Having suffered the disappointment of seeing their chance of London gold ebb away in the final medal race in 2012, Mills from Cardiff, and West Mersea-raised Clark are doing everything in their control to put the icing on their Olympic cake on Guanabara Bay.

Mills, 28, said: “It would be just an incredible journey to have gone through together and to come out with a gold medal. There are maybe four or five boats that will probably be challenging for gold. If we can be challenging come the medal race for gold then I feel super-confident we can deliver a good final day.

'The London medal race was really tough for us. Halfway through the race we knew it was over. We were getting the silver medal, which was obviously incredible, but it felt more like we had lost the gold medal as opposed to won the silver. It took a while to really appreciate what we had done and really appreciate the silver medal.”

Clark continues: 'Coming off the podium in London there was no doubt in my mind we would carry on; we had so much to grow in and do as a team. I’m motivated in a different way to London. I feel so confident about Hannah and I being the great team I know we can be if we execute everything as we should.

“Winning is our dream and goal going into Rio. But I also know having watched a lot of great sailors across two Olympics I’ve done, it is not as simple as that so we have to deliver our processes logically without the emotion of the be all and end all being the gold medal. If we do that we will be in a great place until the last day to win it.”

To prepare for the challenging tidal conditions and unpredictable winds expected inside Guanabara Bay and on the outside ocean courses, each British sailor has spent between 90-150 days in Rio over the past four years.

This, the 470 girls believe, means the sailors who can best be aware and adaptable will stay in the medal hunt the longest.

Mills said: “Rio is probably the most challenging place I've ever sailed. It's got absolutely everything; mountains so the wind is wacky in some areas, then out to sea the ocean has a huge swell. You have to expect the unexpected and can’t ever feel complacent because as soon as you get a tiny bit of that anything can happen.”

Clark added: “The conditions in Rio will keep our fleet wide open, more so than a lot of other venues that are one-dimensional. Just being able to maintain a balanced, logical clear head to make the right decisions in that pressure cooker will be the winning move. I think Hannah and I have built really well towards that for August.”

The 470 Women’s class is scheduled to contest an 11 race series, with two races per day on 10, 11, 12, 14 and 15 August before the final one off medal race on Wednesday 17 August.