Katrina Hughes is the 470 golden girl 2 Aug 2008

2012 Olympic hopefuls Hannah Mills (20) and (former Otter) Katrina Hughes (18) took the world by storm steaming in to win the Ladies’ Junior 470 World Championships in Gydnia, Poland today (29th July ).

The Spanish girls of Tara Pacheco and Berta Betanzos started the week at the top of the fleet only to be overtaken by Mills and Hughes on the third day. From then on it would appear that the British girls could do no wrong, scoring bullets in the next seven races. This put Mills, from Dinas Powys, and Hughes, from Leigh on Sea, in pole position for the Medal race.

Mills said, “Even though we knew we could not be worse than 2nd, the medal race was one of the toughest races I have ever sailed. We knew we had to keep an eye on the Spanish Team as we could not let them get too far in front of us otherwise we would lose the title.”

The girls started sailing the boat together at the start of 2007 and have already posted top 10 results in major ISAF World ranking events. Their natural sailing ability caught the attention of the “Yngling girls” who invited them out to China as their training partners in early July.

Hughes said, “It was a great experience and a fantastic opportunity to see the Olympic set up at close quarters.”

Mills and Hughes are now off to Zadar in Croatia to try and retain their Junior European Ladies 470 crown. The event runs from the 7th – 15th August.