Paris Olympics 2024: The Yorkshire competitors hoping to come home with medals
If Yorkshire were a country, we would have finished 12th on the medals table.
Remember that? That was 12 years ago in London when the likes of Alistair Brownlee, Jessica Ennis-Hill, Nicola Adams, Ed Clancy, Andrew Triggs Hodge and Luke Campbell waved the White Rose flag in the air as gold medals were draped around their necks.
The legacy of that golden summer lives on in a 35-strong Yorkshire contingent that boarded the Eurostar to Paris.
A lot of those familiar names above are long gone, but in their place are some dependable superstars, reliable old favourites and emerging talent for Yorkshire to get behind over the coming 16 days.
If Yorkshire were a country (only a matter of time) then our flag bearers would be Lizzie Deignan of Otley and Jack Laugher of Harrogate. Both are at their fourth Games, a monumental level of sustained excellence, with Deignan a silver medallist at the road race in London, and Laugher a trailblazing diver with a gold and silver from Rio, and a bronze in Tokyo. Deignan might be classed as more of a long shot in next Sunday’s women’s road race, but Laugher will fancy his chances of adding to his tally in both the 3m springboard and synchro, and bloating his status as British diving’s most decorated Olympian.
Perhaps Yorkshire’s best chance of a medal comes from their brazen cycling superstar Tom Pidcock.
The 24-year-old is already an Olympic champion having won the mountain bike gold medal three years ago in Tokyo. He defends that at Elancourt Hill on Monday, five days before he looks to land the double when he lines up in the road race on Saturday, August 3.
Bradly Sinden was a silver medallist in Tokyo, the Doncaster taekwondo player seeing gold ripped from his grasp in the dying seconds. That has fuelled the 25-year-old ever since and he looks to right that wrong in the -68kg category on Thursday, August 8, two days before his team-mate Caden Cunningham of Huddersfield takes to the mat in the heavyweight division. Put Cunningham down as a good outside bet for a medal.
Katy Marchant is another returning medallist, the surprise bronze-medal winner in track cycling’s individual sprint in Rio a new mum now with a fresh perspective, but with three chances to medal on the boards of the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines velodrome. She has a point to prove after a disappointing Tokyo, as do Yorkshire’s team pursuit duo of Charlie Tanfield and Ollie Wood who will look to take back a gold medal that for three cycles belonged to Clancy and his mates.
Joining Laugher in the pool are some fresh faces, not least his City of Leeds training partner Anthony Harding in the 3m synchro, and his girlfriend Lois Toulson in the 10m, but also the City of Sheffield duo of Jordan Houlden and Yasmin Harper, the latter who goes for a medal as early as Saturday morning.
Eight years ago, Leeds Gymnastics Club sent Nile Wilson to the Olympics and he came home with a bronze medal. In Paris that club is represented by Luke Whitehouse and Harry Hepworth who go for glory in the team final on Monday evening. Bryony Page wants the set of trampolining medals.
In the pool, the unluckiest man in trunks has to be Max Litchfield, fourth in Rio and Tokyo, but he heads to his third Games as a world silver medallist and British record holder. He is joined by his brother Joe meaning Yorkshire has sent siblings to each of the last four Games, surely a unique distinction.
The first of those was the Brownlees, but after Jonny failed to qualify for this year’s triathlon, was it any surprise another Yorkshireman did in York’s Sam Dickinson?
A strong rowing squad looks to restore order after a disappointing Tokyo Games, with Leeds’s Georgie Brayshaw part of the European champion women’s quad sculls.
On the track, Sheffield sprint sensation Louie Hinchliffe might be the bolt from the blue that always emerges, while George Mills and Max Burgin are not to be discounted in the middle-distance events. Shot putter Scott Lincoln is in his second Olympics, Harrogate long-jumper Jacob Fincham-Dukes a first. Yorkshire is well-stocked in the marathon; Emile Cairess and Phil Sesemann in the men’s followed by Sheffield’s Calli Hauger-Thackery in the women’s.
Scarborough equestrian Charlotte Fry looks to add to her Tokyo bronze in the dressage. As for new stars, look out for Malton shooter Lucy Hall in the shooting, Keighley rugby star Ellie Kildunne and York climber Hamish MacArthur.
Now, has anyone seen that medal table?