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News & Publications > Community > Former Pupil Elliot Hanson - Sailing into the Olympics

Former Pupil Elliot Hanson - Sailing into the Olympics

24 Sep 2021
Written by Jenny Armitage
Community
Elliot in his Team GB kit
Elliot in his Team GB kit

Elliot left King's in 2012 after sailing through his time at the school after starting to sail on a family holiday. He then developed the competitive nature of always wanting to win as he raced against his brothers and cousins on their family holidays in Wales. Watching another Macclesfield-born sailor Sir Ben Ainslie, Elliot's passion for the sport continued to grow. After buying his first boat for £100, his future was looking bright even if it was an optimistic purchase but Elliot went from strength to strength. 


Elliot went on to play a major role in Britain's 2017 Youth America's Cup team victory, but after this, he decided that he preferred the independence of sailing lasers and how competitive the class is. Elliot was then plagued with a few serious injuries, one to his knee and then requiring surgery on his ankle which kept him out of training and competitions. It took an enormous amount of strength and motivation to overcome these injuries and return to the international stage stronger than ever. Elliot did this with a bang, his first competition back after injury was in Medemblik and he blew everyone out of the water coming away with a gold medal. 


Since then Elliot has racked up several podium finishes and medals including, winning the gold medal to put Team GB at the top of the podium at the Sailing World Cup Series and Olympic Test Event in Japan 2018. As well as earning his first European Championship Title, leading to his qualification for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.


Elliot proudly represented Team GB this summer in Tokyo competing in the Men's Laser Sailing competition. After a fantastic week of sailing in some extremely difficult weather conditions, Elliot finished 12th on the overall table. Although this is not the dream result Elliot had hoped for, it is an incredible result and we look forward to seeing what Elliot does next and hopefully at the Paris 2024 Olympics.

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