Hannah Mills: Olympic champion has a 'small brain bleed'

Hannah Mills posted this picture of herself after the incident

Olympic sailing champion Hannah Mills has suffered a "small brain bleed" and broken nose before the J/70 World Championships in Sardinia.

The 29-year-old was forced to spend a night in hospital in Italy and was waiting to be discharged following the results of another CT scan.

"Not quite the start we were looking for out in Sardinia for the J/70 Worlds! A boom to the nose caused a fairly scary few hours in an Italian hospital with a whole heap of blood," Mills wrote on her Facebook page.

"A fractured nose and a small brain bleed kept me in overnight. Just waiting another CT scan result to hopefully get the all clear and get out of here!"

The 29-year-old is part of the only all-female crew in the 175-boat event which takes place from 12-16 September in Porto Cervo.

Mills is still hoping to make the start line.

Hannah Mills posted this picture of her hooked up to monitors in Italy

It has been an injury-plagued year for Mills since winning 470 gold in Rio last year with the now retired Saskia Clark to go alongside silver at London 2012.

Mills has suffered two setbacks after suffering concussion in January and in late March she had stomach problems.

The helm underwent a gastroscopy and was told to rest for at least the next 10 days before returning to the water.

Since then, Mills has found a new partner in the 470 class and won a World Cup event and World Championship silver with Eilidh McIntyre.

Mills has now abandoned plans to move into a new boat, the 49erFX, and will instead try to defend her 470 title at Tokyo 2020.