HANNA Brant is hoping to make the most of a ‘once in a lifetime opportunity’ after being selected to represent Britain at the ISAF Youth World Championships.

The 17-year-old, from Bishopstone, booked her place on the flight to Langkawi, Malaysia, after beating Karyna Manuel in the selection event at Hayling Island back in August.

The Bishopstone sailor will be one of 12 representing Britain at the event which begins on Sunday, December 27.

Brant, who sails for Oxford Sailing Club, is no stranger to representing her country, having appeared at the Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing, China, last year, and is hoping to learn as much as she can in the Laser Radial class.

“I’m really excited and it is such an honour to be named in the squad,” she said. “I think it will be a great experience.

“I found out after winning a three-day event in August where the best people from around Great Britain were invited.

“I’m friends with all of them so it was really tough to be competitive against them.

“It was quite close. What separated myself and the person who came second was just five points and it all came down to the last race.

“It was very nerve-wracking but I just tried to visualise myself winning and tried to remember how much I wanted to win it.”

Since being selected Brant has been focused on training for the different conditions she is expecting to encounter, wearing extra clothes to help acclimatise, but trying to find low winds in recent weeks has been a bit trickier.

The teenager, who attends St Helen and St Katherine School in Abingdon, has had to balance her sailing with studying for her A-levels but that is not stopping her from targeting a top 10 finish as she keeps one eye on the Olympic Games in 2020.

“I want to try and do the best that I can do and try and improve from my summer events because the fleet will be similar to the people who I raced in the summer.

“I don’t feel like I reached my full potential in the summer. I just want to enjoy it and learn a lot. I am aiming for a top 10 or maybe even top five (finish).

“I feel like it is a really amazing experience I have been offered and it is a once in a life-time and shows how much hard work I have put into sailing.

“Having to balance sailing with school, it shows that all the hard work has paid off.

“I would love to go to the Olympics and so many Olympians, past and present, have gone to the ISAF Youth Worlds so it is kind of a stepping stone towards that one main aim.”