Background
Lucas was born on 29 April 1975 in Redhill, Surrey, England. She was born with a defect in both of her thumbs which makes her eligible to compete in Paralympic events.
Lucas was born on 29 April 1975 in Redhill, Surrey, England. She was born with a defect in both of her thumbs which makes her eligible to compete in Paralympic events.
In 1996 she graduated with a Bachelor of Engineering (Bachelor of Engineering) degree in Yacht and Power Craft Design from Southampton Solent University.
Lucas initially focused on competing in the 470 class in non-disabled competition, attempting to qualify to compete for Great Britain at both the 2000 Sydney Olympics and the 2004 Athens Games. After 2004 she switched to sailing in the 2.4mR class, a Paralympic event contested in a single-person keelboat. She represented Great Britain at the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing, finishing in seventh position in the 2.4mR. Lucas was chosen to compete for Great Britain at the 2012 Summer Paralympics, again in the 2.4 mR - 1 person keelboat event.
At the Games she was the only woman in the fleet of 16 sailors who contested the event.
Heading into the final race she was in first place and held a nine-point lead over second-place sailor Heiko Kroger of Germany, which meant she was guaranteed at least a silver medal. In April 2015, she became the first person named to represent Great Britain at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
She was the last member of the British sailing team to be selected after the announcement of the 2.4 mR representative was delayed because of the close competition between Lucas and Megan Pascoe. Lucas was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (Administration Member of the Order of the British Empire) in the 2013 New Year Honours for services to sailing.