Memories from Tokyo may still be fresh but as summer turns to winter, it’s time for attentions to shift 1,300 miles eastwards towards Beijing.
Today marks 100 days to go until the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in the Chinese capital, an important staging post which will sharpen the focus of the British athletes training hard in the hope of adding their names to an esteemed list of those who have medalled at the coolest show on earth.
Only six curlers are so far assured of their places on the plane but the final British squad who travel to Beijing will contain a blend of faces old and new across the seven sports, 15 disciplines and 109 events.
And it is the roaring game which will get the action underway, with the early rounds begin on February 2, two days before the opening ceremony.
The final medals will be handed out on the same day as the closing ceremony 18 days later, by which time curling star Bruce Mouat will hope to remain in the heat of the battle in both the men’s competition and mixed doubles, alongside Jen Dodds.
Freestyle skiing and ice hockey also steal a march on other sports while the first medals will be up for grabs on day two, February 5, across six events.
Seven events are new additions to the schedule, including mixed team competitions in freestyle skiing aerials, ski jumping, snowboard cross and short track, while the women’s monobob adds a solo element to a sport which retains its two-man, two-woman and four-man disciplines.
Big air will also make its debut appearance in Beijing and that could be music to the ears of Izzy Atkin, who took bronze in the event at the 2019 World Championships and added a maiden World Cup medal later that year.
What an amazing moment for Izzy Atkin! 👏🙌🥉
— Team GB (@TeamGB) February 17, 2018
(📽️ via @BBCSport) #WeAreTheGreat pic.twitter.com/XzdvDBOZ3e
Atkin, who took home slopestyle bronze from PyeongChang, may yet be joined by her younger sister Zoe in the squad and potentially even among the medal winners, Zoe having won halfpipe bronze at the World Championships earlier this year.
The introduction of big air could also suit Sheffield’s James Woods, an X Games gold medallist in 2017 who could line up in the men’s freestyle ranks alongside Gus Kenworthy, looking for a second Olympic Winter Games medal having taken slopestyle silver for USA in Sochi.
Elsewhere on the skis, Dave Ryding is gearing up for his fourth Games – having seen consistent improvement across his previous three – while in the cross-country arena, newcomer James Clugnet will battle it out with the experienced Andrews, Young and Musgrave.
British fans looking to tune in for medals could do worse than marking February 12 in their calendars, when the women’s skeleton takes place.
Team GB have made the podium in the event in every Games and though two-time gold medallist Lizzy Yarnold has retired, Laura Deas is back for more and looking to upgrade the bronze she won in PyeongChang.
Amelia Coltman is also one to watch and there could yet be a chance of seeing two Brits on the podium once more, as was the case with Yarnold and Deas four years ago.
Plenty is still to be decided before the athletes reach the start line, with qualification set to be particularly intense in the coming months following consecutive World Cup seasons interrupted by the pandemic.
But that should only ensure competitors are hitting their peak by the time the action starts and just as at the Summer Games in 2008, it should be a fortnight to savour in Beijing.