Ellie Aldridge

Eleanor (Ellie) Aldridge (born December, 1996) is a British sailor from Dorset who competes in women's kite foiling. She won the 2023 Formula Kite European Championships and took the silver that year in the World Championships.

Life
Aldridge was born in December 1996 and she comes from Poole in Dorset.

In 2021 she beat French windfoiler Lauriane Nolot into third place at that year's Formula Kite World Championships in Torregrande in Sardinia. However she took the silver as she was beaten by the American Daniela Moroz. In 2022 she took the silver medal in the KiteFoil World Series Traunsee in Austria. She was beaten by the Polish surfer Julia Damasiewicz, who took the gold medal, and Daniela Moroz was third.

Aldridge led the UK contingent at the World Championships in August 2023 in Bournemouth. Lauriane Nolot won the event and Aldridge took the silver. She was followed in third and fourth place by fellow British competitors, Lily Young and Katie Dabson. In 2023 she was training with four other "GB Kite Girls" in Weymouth. Katie Dabson and the other "GB Kite Girls" were assisting her training for the Olympics. The "GB Kite Girls" were Aldridge, Maddy Anderson, Jemima Crathorne, Katie Dabson and Lily Young.

She won the 2023 Formula Kite European Championships in Portsmouth beating the Dutch Annelous Lammerts and the French Poema Newland. This was her first significant win and she took first, despite a crash. Lauriane Nolot, the world champion was not in Portsmouth for the event. There was an olympic rehearsal type event later in Paris, in 2024, when she came second to Nolot.

The 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris includes new sports and one of these was kite foiling which had been selected in 2019. When the UK announced the first members of its 2024 Olympic sailing team then Aldridge was one of the eleven names. She joined a team that included the Olympic medallists John Gimson, Anna Burnet and the windsurfer Emma Wilson. The theory is, that the heaver you are then the faster you go at Kite surfing. The World Champion Lauriane Nolet was 15 kg heavier than her, so Aldridge's preparation included putting on weight.

In February 2024 she was in the Canary Islands competing at the first Fuerteventura KiteFoil International Open Cup. Aldridge won the event leading the French Jessie Kampman and the Italian Maggie Pescetto.

In March 2024 the Formula Kite European championships took place in Spain. Aldridge finished in fifth place just ahead of Lily Young, however in May at the Formula Kite World Sailing Championships she came second to the Frenchwoman Lauriane Nolot.