The first athletes to represent Great Britain at the Olympics 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 comprises athletes from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland (although athletes from the province can represent the Republic of Ireland instead).
Team GB have recorded superb results in the last four Games, coming fourth in the medals table at Beijing 2008, third at London 2012, second at Rio 2016, then fourth at Tokyo 2020.
This file will updated as Britain announce more athletes for the XXXIII Olympic Summer Games in the French capital, which run from 26 July to 11 August. Meanwhile, read more on when Team GB’s kit will be unveiled.
Who are Team GB’s athletes?
Athletics
Philip Sesemann: Men’s marathon
NHS junior doctor Sesemann, who outsprinted Sir Mo Farah to finish 10th in the 2023 London Marathon, combined A&E shifts at St James’s Hospital in Leeds with an 80-mile a week running schedule. He will make his Olympic debut after running inside the qualification standard [2hr 8min 4sec] at the Seville Marathon in February 2024. Sesemann goes on all his long runs with his two dogs named after running legends Eliud ‘Kipchoge’ and ‘Haile’ Gebrselassie.
Charlotte Purdue: Women’s marathon
Set to make her first appearance at an Olympic Games in Paris, Purdue excelled at ballet as a child, reaching grade five before giving up aged 10. A former British junior record holder over 10,000m, the Berkshire native has become well known on the British marathon scene, being the first home women’s runner across the line when London hosted the 2017 World Athletics Championships. Purdue bettered the Olympic qualifying standard with a time of 2-22.17 at the 2023 Berlin Marathon, taking her to second on the British all-time list behind Paula Radcliffe.
Calli Hauder-Thackery: Women’s marathon
Another Olympic debutant, Hauder-Thackery burst onto the scene in 2023 when she clocked a stunning 2-22.17 on her marathon debut at the low-key McKirdy Micro Marathon in Valley Cottage, New York – the third-fastest marathon debut by a European athlete – drawing level with Charlotte Purdue (above) behind Paula Radcliffe on the British all-time list. Hauger-Thackery ran for the University of Mexico on a sports scholarship and was based 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
GB’s most successful female canoeist, Franklin took silver in the first Olympic women’s C1 race at Tokyo 2020. She is the reigning C1 world champion and will also contest the kayak cross, which makes its Games debut in Paris.
Kimberley Woods: Women’s kayak single (K1) and kayak cross
On her Olympic debut in Tokyo, Woods impressed en route to the final but suffered 56 seconds in penalties to finish 10th. She bounced back with bronze at the World Championships that year – just 10 days after being involved in a car crash. Woods, who won kayak cross gold and C1 silver at the 2023 World Championships, spoke candidly about her mental health battles in 2020 and has become a inspirational presence on the team.
Adam Burgess: Men’s canoe single (C1)
The Black Sabbath and Stoke City fan has four European Championships and five World Championships medals to his name. Also a lover of yoga and a professionally qualified coffee brewer, Burgess missed out on 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 Rio 2016 Olympics, Clarke became the first Briton to win K1 gold and, after missing out on selection for Tokyo 2020, will look to make amends in Paris. He has enjoyed his most successful period between 2021 and 2023, winning a hat-trick of kayak cross world titles and K1 gold in 2023.
Sailing
John Gimson and Anna Burnet: Nacra 17 (mixed multihull)
Former Americas Cup sailor Gimson and Burnet were Tokyo 2020 silver medallists and will be looking to go one better in Paris after securing their place by taking bronze at the Olympic test event in July, followed by claiming the runners-up spot at the World Championships in August.
James Peters and Fynn Sterritt: 49er (men’s skiff)
Peters, who was nominated for BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year in 2008, stepped away from sailing after being pipped, along with Sterritt, by eventual gold medallists Dylan Fletcher and Stuart Bithell for GB selection for Tokyo, but he returned and perhaps has a point to prove in Paris. Peters and Sterritt are making their Olympic debut.
Chris Grube and Vita Heathcote (mixed dinghy)
Heathcote will be the youngest sailor in the Team GB line-up aged 22, while Grube, 39, will make his third Olympic appearance, having competed at Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020, finishing fifth both times. Grube and Heathcote only started sailing together last year but secured their selection with a silver medal at the recent World Championships. The mixed dinghy class is new for Paris 2024, replacing the separate men’s and women’s 470 events.
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 crew-mate Black is the second-youngest sailor in the side at just 22. Tidey represented Ireland at Rio 2016 before switching 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 maiden Olympics.
Emma Wilson: iQFOiL (women’s windsurfing)
Wilson won GB’s first women’s windsurfing medal since 2008 with bronze at Tokyo 2020 and has successfully adapted since switching from the RS:X to the iQFOiL – the foiling windsurfer which is new for Paris 2024 – two years ago.
Having learnt how to windsurf alongside her mother Penny, a two-time Olympian, Wilson won her first world title aged just 12 in the U15 category. 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 out on selection for Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020 then stepped away from sailing and focused on helping to reduce its carbon footprint, 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 bounced back from a capsizing aged seven that put her off the water and took up kite foiling for weekend fun. Since the class was added to the Olympics for Paris 2024, she has become a regular medal contender at major events, winning silver at the Olympic test event and in August’s World Championships, then gold at the European Championships.
Michael Beckett: ILCA 7 (men’s dinghy)
After missing out on selection Tokyo, the Welsh sailor advised TV directors on race narratives at the Olympics in Japan. This time Beckett, the 2021 European champion who studied engineering in ship science at Southampton University, will be trying to break Australia’s three-Games winning streak in the class.
Triathlon
Beth Potter: Women’s individual
The Glaswegian finished 34th in the 10,000m at the Rio 206 Olympics, 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
A former training colleague of the Brownlee brothers, Yee claimed individual silver and mixed relay gold at Tokyo 2020. Having been awarded an MBE in 2022, Lee booked his spot at the 2024 Games by winning the test event in 2023.
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