Muirhead and Christie head GB medal hopefuls at Pyeongchang games

Great Britain must target a minimum of four medals at next month’s Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang. Here Courier Sport takes a look at six realistic medal chances.

• ELISE CHRISTIE: Short-track star Christie could achieve over half of Great Britain’s medal target singlehandedly. After a stunning triple gold medal triumph at the World Championships in Rotterdam last year, the 27-year-old is in a good place to make up for her disqualification nightmare in Sochi 2014 as she competes in three disciplines – but will have to beat a strong South Korean contingent to do so.

• LAURA DEAS: While the form of defending champion Lizzy Yarnold gives cause for concern, skeleton teammate Laura Deas has quietly gone about her business, with a series of consistent performances on the World Cup circuit currently ranking her fifth overall and suggesting she may be best-placed to maintain the run of consecutive skeleton medals won by British women into a fifth consecutive Games.

• KATIE ORMEROD: The Brighouse snowboard star announced herself on the big stage when she won the Big Air World Cup in Russia last year. Ormerod, who already has a series of history-making moves to her name, is one of the leading names in the dramatic new Olympic discipline, and has also secured World Cup podiums in the snowboard slopestyle discipline, suggesting a two-medal haul is not out of the question.

• DAVE RYDING: Ryding’s remarkable rise from the windswept dry slopes of Pendle to World Cup contention has continued apace this season. The slalom star became only the second British man to win an alpine World Cup medal with silver in Kitzbuhel last year, and almost went one better at the season-opener in Levi in November when he led by over half a second on the second run before missing a gate.

• ANDREW MUSGRAVE: Musgrave’s unlikely exploits in World Cup cross-country have made him a big name in Norway and made him a good outside bet to challenge for a medal in Pyeongchang. Having grown in consistency since his Olympic debut in Sochi, Musgrave earned his first World Cup podium in Toblach, Italy in December and will fancy his chances in the men’s skiathlon.

• EVE MUIRHEAD: A bronze medallist four years ago, the Blair Atholl curler would be hugely disappointed if she wasn’t on the podium again. She is one of Britain’s few genuine gold medal hopes and goes into the Games as recently-crowned European champion. Rachel Homan will be Eve’s main rival for first place but this will be the Canadian’s first Olympics. Young Perth rink, Team Smith, have an outside chance of a medal in the men’s curling but the debutants would have to perform above their world ranking to get on the podium.