The first athletes to represent Great Britain at the Olympic Games in Paris next year have been announced.
Team GB have unveiled the majority of their sailors for the 2024 Games, with athletes from climbing, canoe slalom and triathlon also selected.
The Great Britain team consists of athletes from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland (although athletes from the province may represent the Republic of Ireland instead).
Team GB has achieved excellent results in the past four Games, finishing fourth on the medal table at Beijing 2008, third at London 2012, second at Rio 2016 and then fourth at Tokyo 2020.
This file will be updated as Britain announces more athletes for the XXXIII Summer Olympics in the French capital, taking place from July 26 to August 11.
Who are the Team GB athletes?
Athletics
Philip Sesemann: Men’s Marathon
NHS junior doctor Sesemann, who outsmarted Sir Mo Farah to finish 10th in the 2023 London Marathon, combined emergency duties at St James’s Hospital in Leeds with a running schedule of 80 miles a week. He will make his Olympic debut after running within the qualifying standard [2hr 8min 4sec] during the Seville Marathon in February 2024. Sesemann does all his long runs with his two dogs named after running legends Eliud ‘Kipchoge’ and ‘Haile’ Gebrselassie.
Charlotte Purdue: Women’s Marathon
Purdue, who would make her first appearance at the Paris Olympics, excelled in ballet as a child, reaching the fifth grade before giving up at age 10. The Berkshire-born former British junior record holder in the 10,000 meters has become known among the British. marathon scene, as the first women’s home runner across the line when London hosted the 2017 World Athletics Championships. Purdue improved on the Olympic qualifying standard with a time of 2-22.17 at the 2023 Berlin Marathon, placing second on Britain’s all-time list , behind Paula Radcliffe.
Calli Hauder-Thackery: Women’s Marathon
Hauder-Thackery, another Olympic debutant, burst onto the scene in 2023 when she clocked a stunning 2-22.17 in her marathon debut at the leisurely McKirdy Micro Marathon in Valley Cottage, New York – the third fastest marathon debut by a European athlete – on par height with Charlotte Purdue (above) behind Paula Radcliffe on the British all-time list. Hauger-Thackery ran for the University of Mexico on an athletic scholarship and lived in Australia for three years. Her father, Carl, competed internationally as a long-distance runner in the 1980s and 1990s and her mother Rachel was a sprinter.
Canoe slalom
Mallory Franklin: Women’s canoe single (C1) and kayak cross
Franklin, Britain’s most successful female canoeist, took silver in the first women’s Olympic C1 race in Tokyo 2020. She is the reigning C1 world champion and will also compete in the kayak cross, which makes its Olympic debut in Paris.
Kimberley Woods: Women’s kayak single (K1) and kayak cross
In her Olympic debut in Tokyo, Woods impressed en route to the final but was given 56 seconds of penalties and finished 10th. She returned that year with bronze at the World Championships – just 10 days after being involved in a car accident. Woods, who won kayakcross gold and C1 silver at the 2023 World Championships, spoke candidly about her mental health struggles in 2020 and has become an inspiring presence on the team.
Adam Burgess: Men’s Canoe Single (C1)
The Black Sabbath and Stoke City fan has four European Championship and five World Cup medals to his name. Burgess, also a yoga enthusiast and professionally qualified coffee brewer, missed bronze by 0.16 seconds on his Olympic debut in Tokyo and says he has “unfinished business” in Paris.
Joe Clarke: Men’s kayak single (K1) and kayak cross
At the 2016 Rio Olympics, Clarke became the first Briton to win K1 gold and, after missing out on selection for Tokyo 2020, will look to make up for it in Paris. He has enjoyed his most successful period between 2021 and 2023, winning a hat-trick of kayakcross world titles and K1 gold in 2023.
The sailing
John Gimson and Anna Burnet: Nacra 17 (mixed multihull)
Former Americas Cup sailor Gimson and Burnet were silver medalists at Tokyo 2020 and will look to go one better in Paris after securing their place by taking bronze at the Olympic test event in July, followed by claiming second place at the World Championships in August.
James Peters and Fynn Sterritt: 49er (men’s single scull)
Peters, who was nominated for BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year in 2008, retired from sailing after being pipped, along with Sterritt, by eventual gold medalists Dylan Fletcher and Stuart Bithell for GB selection for Tokyo, but he returned and may have a point to prove in Paris. Peters and Sterritt make their Olympic debut.
Freya Black and Saskia Tidey: 49erFX (women’s skiff)
Two-time Olympian Tidey will be the most experienced member of the Team GB sailing team, while crewmate Black is the youngest sailor on the squad at just 22 years old. Tidey represented Ireland at Rio 2016 before moving to Team GB – qualifying through her father Don – for Tokyo 2020. Black is taking a break from studying philosophy and politics at the University of Exeter to focus on her first Olympic Games.
Emma Wilson: iQFOiL (women’s windsurfing)
Wilson won Britain’s first women’s windsurfing medal since 2008 with bronze at Tokyo 2020 and has adapted successfully since switching from the RS:X to the iQFOiL – the foil windsurfer new for Paris 2024 – two years ago.
After learning to windsurf with her mother Penny, a two-time Olympian, Wilson won her first world title in the U15 category at the age of 12. She won bronze at the 2023 World Championships and silver at the test event in Marseille, the venue for the Paris 2024 sailing competition.
Sam Sills: iQFOiL (men’s windsurfing)
The naval architect missed selection for Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020, then retired from sailing and focused on helping reduce the carbon footprint by working on eco-friendly boats in Norway and Sweden. The former junior world champion returned to sailing after the Olympic windsurfing equipment changed from RS:X to iQFOiL.
Ellie Aldridge: Formula kite (women’s kite)
Aldridge recovered from a capsize at the age of seven that left her out of the water and took up kite foiling for weekend fun. Since the class was added to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, she has become a regular medal contender at major events, winning silver at the Olympic test event and at the August World Championships, and then gold at the European Championships.
Michael Beckett: ILCA 7 (men’s dinghy)
After missing out on selection for Tokyo, the Welsh sailor advised TV directors on racing stories at the Olympic Games in Japan. This time Beckett, the 2021 European champion who studied engineering in marine sciences at the University of Southampton, will look to break Australia’s three-match winning streak in the class.
Triathlon
Beth Potter: Women’s individual
The Glaswegian finished 34th in the 10,000 meters at the Rio 206 Olympic Games before switching to triathlon. In 2023, the former physics teacher won the Olympic test event in Paris and was crowned world champion in Pontevedra, Spain.
Alex Lee: Men’s individual
Yee, a former training colleague of the Brownlee brothers, claimed individual silver and mixed relay gold at Tokyo 2020. After being awarded an MBE in 2022, Lee booked his place at the 2024 Games by winning the 2023 test event.
