Winter Olympics: Elise Christie, Katie Ormerod and James Woods can lead Team GB’s medal rush at Beijing 2022
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Updated 27/10/2021 at 12:40 GMT
Team GB have never won more than five medals at a Winter Olympics, achieved at the last two Games in Sochi and Pyeongchang. This time, there is no Lizzy Yarnold to claim skeleton gold, but there is a genuine chance that Britain could achieve a new record in Beijing, with the likes of snowboarder Katie Ormerod and freestyle skier James Woods competing at the top of their sports.
Beijing 2022: The medals for the Winter Olympic games revealed
Athletes are into the final straight for their Winter Olympic preparations, with 100 days to go until the start of Beijing 2022 - and Team GB are going for a medal record.
Britain have never won more than five at a winter Games, achieved at the last two Olympics in Sochi and Pyeongchang, but GB have arguably never had better depth than they do now.
Skeleton golds were won at the last three Games, by Amy Williams and Lizzy Yarnold (two), but this time, success is most likely to come on the snow and indoor ice. Eurosport looks at some of the best medal chances - just don’t @ us when we get this wrong…
Andrew Musgrave - Cross-Country Skiing
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Andrew Musgrave says he will have no excuses if he does not win a medal at Beijing 2022
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The 31-year-old achieved Britain’s best ever cross-country finish at a Winter Olympics when he came seventh in the skiathlon in Pyeongchang, but that was not good enough for Musgrave. Having recovered from a pectoral muscle tear earlier this year, he believes he has never been in better shape than right now.
With the World Cup season approaching, Musgrave says he will have “no excuses” if he fails to make the podium in Beijing. He had an impressive World Championships in March, finishing in the top 10 in three events.
Endurance athletes typically come into their prime in their 30s - an Olympic medal is at an arm’s reach for Musgrave, and this could be the Games where they are finally grasped.
Katie Ormerod - Snowboard Slopestyle
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Katie Ormerod has comeback from a potentially career ending injury to return to the top of the sport
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Ormerod was one of the stories of the Pyeongchang Games, without even making the start gate. On the eve of competition, she first broke her wrist in training, before suffering a horrific heel injury, which she split in two.
Multiple operations later, Ormerod is a World Cup winner and sits third in the Olympic quota rankings, making her one of the favourites for Olympic slopestyle gold.
Ormerod has spoken to Eurosport about her incredible comeback from injury to rise back to the top of the sport. Four years after her career hung by a thread, she will finally be able to call herself an Olympian - and could return home with a bit of precious metal.
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Winter Olympics - The countdown begins with 100 days to go until Beijing 2022
Elise Christie - Short-Track Speed Skating
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Elise Christie will be hoping to put previous Olympic heartbreak to one side in Beijing
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Has there been a more unfortunate British Olympian, in any sport, than Elise Christie? We have lived through her heartbreak - and she has revealed in her recent book just how much of a toll that took on her, mentally.
Christie has suffered disqualifications and crashes at the past two Games, and went into Pyeongchang as a favourite on the back of three golds at the World Championships. She is the picture of resilience. After receiving online abuse four years ago, Christie has spoken about how she contemplated taking her own life around Christmas 2018.
Now 31, she is back for more - the first step is to obtain a quota place, before securing selection. Speed skating becomes a sport most people love to watch every time an Olympic Games comes around - and we have seen enough to know that anything can happen. If Christie can step on to that podium in Beijing, there will not be a more popular British athlete to do so.
James Woods - Freestyle Skiing (Slopestyle)
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James Woods has become a world champion since the 2018 Pyeongchang Games
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‘Woodsy’ finished an agonising fourth in Pyeongchang, but since then, he has become the world slopestyle champion, achieving gold in Utah two years ago.
A former Crystal Globe winner, a prize which rewards the most consistent athletes in their sport, Woods took some time out from skiing after winning gold in Utah, but he is now back competing.
Woods competes in Big Air as well, but it is slopestyle where he is most revered. One of the most entertaining characters on the freestyle ski tour, in a packed field for such an accolade, the 29-year-old is sure to have an eventful Games.
Bruce Mouat - Curling
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Bruce Mouat and Jen Dodds are mixed doubles world champions
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Eve Muirhead’s women’s team has dominated attention in the previous few Games, but it is Bruce Mouat who is most likely to deliver success this time around.
The men’s captain guided his team to a silver medal at the World Championships this year, and followed that up with gold in the mixed doubles with Jen Dodds.
Mouat’s rink, and his partnership with childhood friend Dodds, became the first athletes to have their Olympic selection confirmed in the past fortnight. The nation becomes hooked on curling every four years - Mouat and Dodds in particular might just deliver Britain’s first curling gold since Rhona Martin’s team claimed the title at Salt Lake City 2002.
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