With Team GB’s female athletes claiming their best haul of an Olympic Games at Rio 2016, there has hardly been a time where women’s sport has been stronger.
And with International Women’s Day upon us today, what better way to celebrate the fabulous achievements of Team GB’s stars across track and field, and even snow and ice. But while the past has held some quite staggering performances across all sports, the future could very well hold some accolades even bigger and better. So with both PyeongChang 2018 and Tokyo 2020 coming up thick and fast, here are ten female stars undoubtedly worth keeping an eye on in their bid for Olympic Games and Winter Olympic Games glory.
Eve Muirhead led her rink to Olympic bronze at Sochi 2014, and World Championship gold in 2013. Muirhead herself is a four-time junior World Champion and won the European Curling Championships in 2011. The 26-year-old Scot is clearly used to success, and with Anna Sloan, Vicki Adams and Lauren Gray making up the rest of Team Muirhead they will be hoping to go two better than 2014 and emulate the feat of their compatriots in Salt Lake City 2002 – when Rhona Martin’s ‘stone of destiny’ won gold for Team GB. Team Muirhead are already established as one of the world’s leading curling rinks, can they go all the way in PyeongChang?
Amber Hill, just 18, finished sixth in the women’s skeet final - and insists next time she’ll be ready for the pressure cooker of Olympic competition. “It is just something no one can prepare you for. No one can put into words how electric the atmosphere is,” she said. “There is a lot of hard work over the next four years for Tokyo and a lot of experience to gain because I am only 18 but I think there is a lot of good things to come from me.”
There’s not much this young Scot has left to achieve in the world of short track speed skating, but having left Sochi 2014 empty-handed she has a score to settle with the Olympic Winter Games. Elise Christie has a habit of making history, doing so in 2015 by becoming the first British skater to win two medals at a World Championships. And she followed that in 2016 by setting a world record in the 500m, retaining her European overall title and taking 500m, 1,000m and 1,500m crowns. And with Charlotte Gilmartin, winner of the 2016 3,000m European title, snapping at her heels, Team GB looks to have a formidable squad forming.
A top-ten finish achieved and two personal bests matched, weightlifter Rebekah Tiler was beaming after her Games debut in Rio. At just 17 years of age, Tiler was never realistically going to trouble the podium but come Tokyo 2020, she predicts that will all change. “I could have done a little bit better but I was a little bit nervous,” she admitted. “I equalled my own best, which is good on an Olympic stage. This is all about experience this one but for 2020. I’m aiming for gold then.”
Another to win their first World Cup event this winter, Katie Ormerod took Big Air victory in Moscow in January as her preparations for PyeongChang 2018 look to be going perfectly. She currently sits second in the overall Big Air World Cup standings, and with podium finishes in Copper, Moenchengladbach and Alpensia in the last few months, the young Brit is on a roll. She also took second at the recent Air and Style event in Innsbruck, Austria, and is one of a flourishing crop of GB Park & Pipe boarders currently taking the world by storm.
Amy Tinkler may have been the youngest member of Team GB in Brazil but she certainly came of age. The 16-year-old - who picked up her GCSE results the day she landed back in the UK - continued British gymnastics remarkable run by claiming a shock bronze in the floor final. “I put no pressure on myself, neither did my coaches or family. They just told me to that I had nothing to lose to go out there and enjoy it,” she said. “Hopefully you will see me back out here in 2020 and there will be more medals to come.”
She’s won it all. Olympic Champion, World Champion, European Champion and World Cup Champion. After taking Olympic gold at Sochi 2014, Lizzy Yarnold capped a remarkable 12 months by finishing both the 2013-14 and 2014-15 season as the World Cup champion, as well as taking the World and European titles in early 2015. The former heptathlete took a sabbatical from the sport the following season but returned in 2016, reinvigorated and ready to launch her assault on another Olympic title, in South Korea. In her comeback season she has already been on the podium at the Lake Placid World Cup, and, along with compatriot Laura Deas, sits in the top ten of the series standings.
Chloe Tutton admits life will never be the same again after making her Olympic debut in Rio. National champion Tutton, just 20, finished fourth in the fourth in the 200m breaststroke final and helped Great Britain’s 4x100m medley relay team to a new national record in their final. “I’m sure it won’t be normal for the rest of my life after this as I’ll be able to look back and think ‘I’m an Olympian now’ and that’s always been my dream,” she said.
You wait ages for one European Indoor Championship medal, and two come along at once. While that may not be the intended message behind the adage, you certainly won’t find Laura Muir complaining. After years of disappointments, near-misses and fears her dream may not come to fruition, the long-distance runner pulled out all the stops to break her duck in the 1500m, also smashing a 32-year-old Championship record in the process. Not content to just be done there after also breaking Dame Kelly Holmes’ British record, the 23-year-old added 3000m gold less than 24 hours later in Belgrade to complete her emphatic double. Even then, Muir still possessed the energy to outrun a steward and complete a well-deserved victory lap, with focus now quickly turning to London, and a chance to beat the fifth-place World Championship finish she mustered last time out in Beijing two years ago.
Grace Reid’s choice of sport has often prompted mum Liz to cover her eyes due to nerves. But after finishing eighth in the 3m springboard final at her first ever Olympic Games, the European bronze medallist believes she might have finally convinced her mum to do away with the tension. “I’m going to sit down at the drawing board with my coach. I’m going to enjoy this while it lasts, have a bit of a holiday and then it will be back to the hard work and building towards Tokyo,” said the 20-year old.
Team GB is celebrating women across the country on the 8th March using #SheInspiresMe on social media and are encouraging fans to do the same by posting a picture or comment dedicated to those who inspire them.
Sportsbeat 2017