Hannah Mills said she was “heartbroken” to have lost in the final of the inaugural women’s America’s Cup but proud to have accelerated the development of women’s sailing over the last week.

Britain’s Athena Pathway, the youth and women’s arm of Ben Ainslie’s Athena group, is led by double Olympic champion Mills, the most successful female Olympic sailor of all time.

The squad finished third in the youth regatta and second in the first-ever women’s Cup, edged in a tight race by Italy’s Luna Rossa.

Mills said the format of the event – a one-off final match race after a week of fleet racing – was pretty brutal. But she ultimately praised Italy’s skipper Giulia Conti for sailing an exceptional race.

“Yeah, it was a tough format,” Mills said. “We knew it would be with the semis [on Friday], four races in one day. It’s full-on. And then we always knew that the one-race match race would be super tough.

“There is so much jeopardy in these boats, and in this sailing. But it is what it is. We all signed up to it and it’s the same for everyone. I’d probably look at the format a little bit, but I thought the whole event was such a success.”

‘Massive first step for women’

Mills told Telegraph Sport before the regatta started that she felt women could be on the main Cup boats in the next cycle given the increased exposure they were getting to high-performance foiling yachts.

Asked whether she still felt that way, she replied: “I think there’s a good likelihood that we will, whether it’s the next Cup or the one after. We’ve still got a big experience gap and time-in-the-boat gap.

“But this was such a massive first step that without it we were never going to close that gap. I think it will come. How quickly is yet to be determined.”

Mills, who was welcomed back to shore by daughter Sienna, said she was looking forward to spending more time with her family, having been based in Barcelona since April.

“It’s been a really long six months. I kept telling her, one more day, one more day and then I’ll be back. I’m looking forward to spending some more time with her.

“It’s always heartbreaking to lose when you’ve put so much into something. But the bigger picture for me is that it has just been such an incredible event, and it’s really captured the hearts and minds of so many people that maybe didn’t know much about sailing and are now superfans.

“It’s amazing to have been part of that. I’m excited for all the little girls around the world who are sailing at the moment, or want to try sailing.

“There are going to be so many opportunities by the time they are leaving school and ready to take on the world.”