Lymington sailing star Hannah Snellgrove earned Team GB a quota spot at the Paris 2024 Olympics just a year after not being allowed to sail.

Snellgrove, 32, finished 11th in the ILCA 6 class at the Allianz World Sailing Championships, with the top 16 booking their nation’s ticket to the French capital next summer.

The sailor narrowly missed out on the medal race in The Hague but is still looking on the bright side after a difficult year.

She said: "It has been quite stressful racing with some really long days on the water and some tricky conditions in The Hague, which just makes for a lot of carnage around marks.

"I have mixed feelings because this isn't really the result I came here to achieve and I was in the top 10 until the last day but I missed that race by just a few points.

"Obviously that's quite gutting, but at the same time I think after a few days of perspective I'll enjoy the achievement of qualifying the nation for Paris.

"That was one of the biggest things to do here and now we're in.

"Right now it feels pretty disappointing, but I guess it is good that 50 per cent of the week I was right up there.

"That being said, this time last year I couldn't even sail. If you're fighting it out for the top 10 at the test event and at the Worlds when this time last year I wasn't in a boat, that's great."

Snellgrove, who also boats a first-class degree from Cambridge University, suffered a huge setback last year after a back injury, consisting of two slipped discs, pushed her out of the boat and into recovery.

With rehab not working, it looked like Snellgrove might have to call time on her sailing career until a miraculous turnaround in autumn.

And having gone from considering retirement to qualifying her nation for Paris 2024, Snellgrove is excited to see what she can do next.

"I'm almost trying not to think too much about how I felt this time last year because I genuinely wasn't convinced I would ever race at this level again," she said.

"It was not looking great and we did rehab which didn't work, I had a spine injection and then finally last autumn we started building up sailing tolerance again.

"I've done this regatta with very little pain medication and that was a real step forward for me, which is great. It's sort of a little bit mind blowing with the turnaround that we've had.

"It was a pretty dark time in my career last year but I'm pleased to be starting to move my way back.

"I'll have a bit of time off now and then I want to do another Marseille training camp before some big winter training ahead of our January World Championships next year in Argentina."

Follow the British Sailing Team after the Sailing World Championships in The Hague, Netherlands, on Instagram at @britishsailing