Team GB predicted to win 66 medals at Paris Olympics but just 13 gold

Britain has been predicted to exceed its medal tally from the last Olympics in Paris this summer.

Team GB athletes came away from the Covid-delayed Tokyo Games three years ago with 64 medals in all.

But the Gracenote Virtual Medal Table, a statistical model based on past Olympics, World Championships and World Cups to predict results, has estimated the British contingent will come away with an improvement of 66 medals in all from the French capital.

But the gold count is set for a big drop to just 13, a noticeable fall from the 22 golds won in Japan in 2021.

At 100 days to go from Paris, the British team is far from being finalised for the summer Games but the 66 medals are expected to come from 22 sports in all, with Britain tipped for the third-highest medal tally of all the nations. But it is anticipated the Brits will finish fourth in the medal table behind the United States, China and France, by virtue of the Olympic hosts’ higher gold medal count.

The British cycling team are once again expected to be responsible for the highest medal haul of 12 medals across track cycling, BMX and mountain biking but none on the road. Beth Shriever is favoured to successfully defend her BMX racing gold from the last Games, with Tom Pidcock expected to drop back a spot after his golden run in the mountain biking in 2021.

In the wake of Laura Kenny’s retirement, Katie Archibald looks to be the star turn of the British track cycling contingent with the Scot going for gold in three endurance events: the team pursuit, where Britain are ranked No1, the omnium and the madison. She won all three at the most recent Olympic qualifying event in Canada.

After a tough Tokyo Olympics without a single gold medal, British rowers are expected to return to top of the medal table with four gold medals in total and a particularly strong contingent in the men’s sweep: pair, four and eight.

But the swimmers are not being backed to echo their medal heroics in Tokyo which entailed four gold medals, with no golds predicted for a team spearheaded by the likes of Adam Peaty, bidding for a third straight Olympic gold, and all-rounder Duncan Scott, who has yet to pick up an individual Olympic gold.

And no golds are anticipated in the athletics although lesser medals are expected from the likes of Josh Kerr, Keely Hodgkinson and Dina Asher-Smith.