Wonder women to lead the charge

AUSTRALIA’S new generation of wonder women, led by French Open tennis champion Ash Barty and teenage swimming sensation Ariarne Titmus, are set to take us back to the Olympic glory days.

It’s been lean pickings for Australia at the past two Olympics, but with exactly one year to go before the start of Tokyo 2020, the number crunchers are tipping a massive improvement next year.

The global data giant Gracenote Sports has just released its one-year-togo Virtual Medals Table for Tokyo after using complicated algorithms to analyse results and rankings for competitors in each of the 339 medal events that will be conducted. And the numbers that were spat out suggest Tokyo will be one of Australia’s best-ever Olympic performances, with the team predicted to finish in the top six countries in the world with 13 golds and 43 medals in total, almost a 50 per cent improvement on the last Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

The great news for Australia is that the Dolphins are looking as strong as ever so are forecast to provide the lion’s share of the silverware, with 13 medals, including golds in the women’s 4x100m freestyle relay and the mixed freestyle relay.

Those numbers are expected to rise even higher after this week’s world championships in South Korea, with Titmus leading the next wave that includes Kaylee McKeown and Minna Atherton as well as established stars Cate Campbell, Bronte Campbell, Emma McKeon, Kyle Chalmers and Mitch Larkin.

Though she is ranked No.1 in the world, Barty is only tipped to win bronze in Tokyo but she will move higher up the rostrum if her great form continues.

World champion canoeist Jessica Fox is predicted to bag two individual gold medals in the Japanese capital after winning silver and bronze at the last two Olympics. And Sally Fitzgibbons is the gold medal favourite for the inaugural women’s surfing title despite losing her No.1 ranking on the weekend.