Bettine Harris: Somerset sailor to compete at Olympics test event

Bettine Harris has competed on the water since a very young age

Somerset sailor Bettine Harris says she wants to "take her chance" of qualifying for Paris 2024 after being selected for an Olympics test event.

The 20-year-old has been named in Great Britain's 14-strong squad for the competition in Marseille in July.

Harris, from Axbridge, only joined British Sailing's elite team in February.

She will compete in the mixed 470 class alongside sailing partner Martin Wrigley.

"It will hopefully be an incredible experience, I'm really excited for it. I'm still working out who's who and everything, there's so much to learn before then but I'm really looking forward to it," Harris told BBC Points West.

"I wasn't really thinking of 2024, it was much more 2028, but if the chance is there I definitely want to take it."

Harris is from a sailing family and has competed from a young age. Her grandfather was a boat builder, her dad sailed and raced and her brother also competed - the siblings partnered up and won national titles and world under-15 championships together.

"I way prefer sailing with another person than sailing on my own, and I learnt a lot from him," Harris said.

"He's a two-time cadet national champion and cadet world champion so I definitely learnt a lot from him at the beginning."

Harris (right) has partnered up with Martin Wrigley since joining British Sailing's elite squad

It was when the Covid-19 lockdowns in 2020 and 2021 stopped Harris from sailing that she realised how much the sport meant to her - and her desire to pursue it as a career increased.

Yet getting a call-up to the British elite squad this year was not part of the plan.

"It was quite a big surprise - I definitely wasn't expecting this at the beginning of the year," Harris continued.

"It's been quite a big jump up to the amount of sailing volume that we've been doing compared to before when I was in education. It's definitely been a bit of a wake-up call for my body.

"But it's been really good. I do a lot of stuff off the water in the gym and on the bikes. It's a lot of training outside on the water stuff."

Olympics the 'ultimate aim'

The 470 class has a strong history of producing British Olympic medal winners, with Hannah Mills, Saskia Clark and Eilidh McIntyre all winning golds at the two most recent Games.

While Harris and Wrigley only started training together one month before they began competing, the "ultimate aim" was always to reach the Olympics.

"That is the ultimate aim, we need to try and qualify in the 470 first but it would be nice to think about it," Harris added.

"It's quite an unpredictable sport. It's continually learning because there's no days that are really the same, no races that are the same.

"Every day you go out and there's going to be something different and I think that's pretty exciting. You can't ever really tell what you're going to get."