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Olympics 2024: Team GB's best chances of winning gold medals in Paris

Sports Mole looks at Great Britain's best chances of winning gold medals at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

After packing 64 medals into their suitcases from the Tokyo 2020 Olympics - 22 golds, 20 silvers and 22 bronzes - Great Britain have been set a target of at least 50 for the imminent Paris Olympics, certainly an achievable number.

Only the United States (113) and China (89) clinched more Olympic medals than GB, while host nation Japan earned a handful more gold medals, but some of the stars of 2021 are no longer performing at the peak of their powers.

However, UK Sport believe that as many as 70 medals is a realistic target for Great Britain this summer, and the nation will send over 300 athletes across the channel to the French capital, some bidding to defend or regain titles and others aiming to upset the established order.

Here, Sports Mole takes a look at Great Britain's best hopes of winning gold medals at the 2024 Olympics.


Tom Pidcock - Cycling

Tom Pidcock celebrates winning gold for Team GB on July 26, 2021© Reuters

The first British athlete to win gold at the Tokyo 2020 Games, Tom Pidcock conquered the men's cross-country competition and has since added a World Championship title from the same discipline to his resume in 2023.

More recently, Pidcock agonisingly missed out on a stage nine win at the Tour de France, before having to be sent home over the weekend after testing positive for COVID-19, which has affected several riders this summer.

However, with ample time to rest up and recover, Pidcock will hopefully be in full flow by the time that the cross-country Olympic event rolls around.


Bethany Shriever - Cycling

Bethany Shriever pictured in August 2023© Reuters

Another Briton who thrives on two wheels - albeit in a different discipline - Bethany Shriever was crowned Women's BMX gold medallist three years ago won world gold in the same event just last year.

Having also become European champion in between those two global successes, Shriever became the first-ever BMX rider to hold the Olympic, world and European titles all in one go, although she suffered a massive scare in May, breaking her collarbone in the World Championships semi-final.

Despite that worrying crash, Team GB have confirmed that Shriever has made a full recovery and will be defending her title in the French capital, where she is regarded as one of GB's favourites to bring home the gold.


Alex Yee - Triathlon

Alex Yee in action at the Commonwealth Games on July 29, 2022© Reuters

Only 11 seconds separated Alex Yee from Norwegian champion Kristian Blummenfelt in the men's triathlon event at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, as the Briton took home a hard-earned silver in addition to mixed relay gold.

Yee's success in Japan preceded a Commonwealth Games gold-medal double, while he also won gold at the World Triathlon Sprint Championships in 2022 before taking the bronze in the same competition in 2023.

With neither Alistair Brownlee nor Jonny Brownlee flying the triathlon flag for GB this summer, the time is nigh for Yee to fill the brothers' boots.


Bryony Page - Trampoline

Bryony Page in action at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics on July 30, 2021© Reuters

Silver medallist in 2016 and finishing third at Tokyo in 2020, the third time could be the charm for 33-year-old trampoline aficionado Bryony Page, who succumbed to the supremacy of Chinese one-two Liu Lingling and Zhu Xueying three years ago.

However, at the most recent Trampoline and Tumbling World Championships in Birmingham, Page wowed the home crowd by pipping Xueying to the global title, her second individual crown after also winning the 2021 edition.


Joe Clarke - Canoeing

Joe Clarke pictured in 2016© Reuters

Gold medallist in the men's canoe slalom K-1 event in 2016 before missing out on a place in the Tokyo 2020 team, Joe Clarke is back with a vengeance at the Paris Games.

Since his most recent Olympic heartache, Clarke has taken home no fewer than four world gold medals - a three-peat in the Kayak Cross as well as the K-1 title last year - and is being tipped to burst back onto the Games scene straight away.


Joe Choong - Modern Pentathlon

A trailblazer for Great Britain in the modern pentathlon, Joe Choong became the first man from his nation to win gold in the event at the Tokyo 2020 Games, since when he has been a force to be reckoned with in the world scene too.

Indeed, the 29-year-old became global champion in the 2022 and 2023 individual men's competitions before relinquishing his title last month, although it will still take something special to pip Choong to Olympic glory here.


Jake Jarman - Gymnastics

Gold medallist Britain's Jake Jarman celebrates on the podium with his medal after winning the vault exercise on October 8, 2023© Reuters

At the 2023 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Antwerp, Jake Jarman did not only compete one of the most difficult vaults in the world - a 3.5 twist - he stuck a perfect landing without a single step.

The four-time Commonwealth Games winner unsurprisingly took home the gold medal as a result, and he will also be a serious threat on the floor exercise, where he has a skill named after him.


Sky Brown - Skateboarding

Sky Brown pictured at the Tokyo Olympics on August 4, 2021© Reuters

One of the heart-warming success stories of the Tokyo 2020 Games, Sky Brown had only just entered her teenage years when she became the youngest Olympic medallist Great Britain had ever had at a mere 13 years of age.

Now 16 and with a World Championships gold medal under her belt - winning the 2023 park event - the leap to Olympic champion territory is certainly not beyond the realm of possibility for the 2008-born trickster.


Bradly Sinden - Taekwondo

Bradly Sinden pictured in July 2021© Reuters

Four years on from becoming the first British man to take home a taekwondo world title, Bradly Sinden repeated his trick at the 2023 World Championships, before winning this year's European title in the 68kg section too.

Let us not forget that Sinden also won Olympic silver three years ago, and the time is nigh for the 25-year-old to take that extra step and conquer the quadrennial multi-sport event.


Kimberley Woods - Canoeing

Kimberley Woods pictured in July 2021© Reuters

The 2021 Olympic Games were a learning curve for 28-year-old Kimberly Woods, who settled for a 10th-placed finish in the Women's K-1 event, but she has continued to collect international medals like there is no tomorrow.

At the 2023 World Championships in London, Woods triumphed in the Kayak Cross and C1 team events, laying down quite the marker as she attempts to right her Tokyo wrongs.


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