100 days to go: How Team GB are shaping up for Paris Olympics

Our big hopes for golden glory as a host of new stars come to the fore

17 April 2024

With just 100 days to go to the Paris Olympics, the clock is ticking.

A host of British athletes have already booked their place in the team with the final berths for Team GB set to be announced in the coming weeks.

Standard Sport assesses the team's chances leading up to the Games.

Athletics

It is within middle-distance running where Team GB have arguably their best chances of winning individual medals, according to the Gracenote Virtual Medal Table, a statistical model based results in previous Olympics, World Championships and World Cups to predict results.

Josh Kerr

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Josh Kerr, a Tokyo Olympic bronze medallist, is the world champion for the 1500metres and the man he replaced as champion over that distance, Jake Wightman, is aiming to get back to his best form following injury.

In the women's, Keely Hodgkinson in the 800m faces the duel threat of Mary Moraa and Athing Mu as she bids for her first global title, while Laura Muir is well-placed for a medal in the 1500m.

Dina Asher-Smith is hopeful that changing coach and relocating to the United States can help claw her way back into medal contention. It is in the 4x100m relay where she boasts arguably her best medal hope.

Katarina Johnson-Thompson will bid to continue Britain's proud record in the heptathlon as the current world champion.

Tokyo medals: 0 gold, 2 silver, 3 bronze (5 total)

Gracenote prediction: 0G, 2S, 7B (9T)

Bethany Shriever and

Jeremy Selwyn and Kye Whyte in Tokyo

Cycling

UK Sport have set British Cycling a medal range of five to eight, which appears conservative looking at the current crop of athletes.

Bethany Shriever was a relative unknown when she won Olympic gold three years ago but is now a two-time champion and favourite for gold in Paris. The British BMX team had just one rider per class in Tokyo but will take double that on the Eurostar. Of the rising stars, Kieran Reilly is the stand-out and, like Shriever, the freestyle rider is a current world champion.

Defending mountain bike champion Tom Pidcock appears to be a class above his rivals, while Josh Tarling is the best medal bet on the road in the men's time trial.

On the track, Britain have habitually been top dogs at the Olympics but often had fallow years in between. Not so last year, where they topped the World Championships medal table.

Katie Archibald could prove the team's star turn, as she goes for triple gold in the team pursuit, omnium and madison. The men's pursuit could be a tight three-way tussle with Italy and Denmark, while Emma Finucane, at 21, should be GB's sprint star.

Tokyo medals: 6G, 4S, 2B (12T)

Prediction: 3G, 6S, 3B (12T)

Emily Craig and Imogen Grant

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Rowing

Tokyo was a regatta to forgot, a story of fourth places and crews who struggled to maintain Britain's place as the leading rowing nation. The message in the immediate aftermath from the sport's hierarchy in Japan was effectively to judge them on Paris.

And there has been a noticeable restructure at the top since Japan, with a new performance director Louise Kingsley and coaching staff.

There are some established names in the squad — namely mum-of-three Helen Glover back for a fourth Olympics — but current unheralded rowers outside of the team's Cavesham base are set to force their way onto the podium.

Emily Craig and Imogen Grant were the World Rowing women crew of the year last year and look like being Britain's best shot at gold, having continued their dominance into 2024.

The men's sweep side of things is particularly strong, with the pair, four and eight all currently predicted to come out on top in Paris.

The women's quadruple sculls are the current world champions, while Graeme Thomas, who withdrew on the eve of the Rio games with sickness and was fourth in Tokyo, will be hoping to finally medal in the men's quad.

Tokyo medals: 0G, 1S, 1B (2T)

Prediction: 4G, 2S, 0B (6T)

Adam Peaty

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Swimming

Britain's swimmers massively exceeded expectations in the pool at the Tokyo Olympics, with two individual golds for Tom Dean and Adam Peaty combined with two relay golds.

Gracenote's prediction of zero gold medals and just four medals in all — half of what they achieved at the last Games — seems to be underplaying the strength in depth of a squad.

Peaty appears to have timed his return to form perfectly, with a sub-58-second swim at the trials proving the quickest time of the year. He finally has a worthy breaststroke adversary in Qin Haiyang, who has been clocking some blistering times.

Duncan Scott has looked strong, so too the less well-known Matt Richards. And the form across all disciplines, such as Ollie Morgan recently breaking Liam Tancock's British 100m backstroke record, bodes well for the relays. Freya Colbert has qualified for three events and her best chance of glory comes in the 400m individual medley, while Ben Proud is a contender in the 50m freestyle.

Tokyo medals: 4G, 3S, 1B (8T)

Prediction: 0G, 3S, 1B (4T)

Max Whitlock

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Others

Of the other sports, Britain's sailing team are missing many of the big names from three years ago but are still predicted to win five medals in total, although no golds.

And the triathlon contingent again looks strong, with Alex Yee, Georgia Taylor-Brown and Beth Potter all medal protagonists.

There are a trio of strong medal chances — all potentially golden — in the canoe slalom, courtesy of Joe Clarke, Mallory Franklin and Kimberley Woods, while Andrea Spendolini Sirieix, Jack Laugher and Tom Daley lead the team's diving aspirations.

Max Whitlock, meanwhile, has already declared his intention to retire from the Olympics after Paris as he bids for a hat-trick of titles on the pommel horse, while other medal protagonists from the team include the Gadirova twins and Bryony Page.

Equine hopes again look strong in Paris, ranging from Charlotte Fry in the dressage to Oliver Townend, the current world No1 in three-day eventing.

There has been much controversy over changes to the modern pentathlon but Joseph Choong is still favourite to successfully defend his title, while Sky Brown will be targeting another medal in the skateboarding.