Five athletes tipped to be stars for Great Britain

Dina Asher-Smith: Sprint star AsherSmith may gain more from defeat than the victories that have turned her into domestic athletics’ next big star. Her second place behind double Olympic champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce at the recent Anniversary Games showed Smith just what it will take to bridge that gap and strike gold in Tokyo.

Adam Peaty: Such is his dominance of the event that his rivals would happily hand Peaty the men’s 100m breaststroke gold medal right now. It is all about timings for British swimming’s biggest star. Having shattered the mythical 57-second barrier at the World Championships in Gwanju this week, Peaty is already making plans to go even faster.

Pat McCormack: McCormack left Rio bitterly disappointed not to win a medal and has dominated boxing’s tough welterweight division since. His recent performance at the European Games – in which he flattened 2016 silver medallist Lorenzo Sotomayor and went on to take gold – underlined his current stature in the sport.

Jade Jones: It seems scarcely believable that at the age of 26, taekwondo star Jade Jones heads to Tokyo bidding for her third successive Olympic gold medal. Having recently clinched the world crown – the last major title that was still eluding her – Jones is in her best shape yet as she stays on top in a -57kg weight category she has dominated for so long.

Sky Brown: Brown, who would be 12 on the first day of competition, is poised to rewrite the record books by not only qualifying for skateboarding’s debut at the Games, but possibly winning a medal too. The remarkable Japan-born Brown is also aiming to qualify to compete in the surfing competition, but that currently looks a little less likely.