Olympics 2016: Australia’s best medal hopes with a year to go to the Rio Games

WITH just over a year until the Rio Olympic Games begin, here’s Australia’s best hopes for golden glory in Brazil.

WITH just over a year until the Rio Olympic Games begin, here’s Australia’s best hopes for golden glory in Brazil.

SALLY PEARSON (athletics)

THE defending champion in the 100m hurdles, Pearson will again be Australia’s leading light on the track. Since her triumph in London, the Gold Coast hurdler has captured another Commonwealth crown and silver medal at the world championships.

Rio will be her third Olympics and at 29 Pearson faces her biggest challenge to keep at bay an emerging pack of talented hurdlers from the US.

A serious wrist injury suffered in a race fall ruled her out of this year’s world titles but she remains confident it won’t impact on her Rio title defence.

CATE CAMPBELL (swimming)

The reigning world champion over 100m freestyle, Cate Campbell will this week attempt to extend her unbeaten streak over two laps into a third year as she sets a compelling case for Rio Olympic gold.

The unflappable Brisbane sprinter is the fastest woman the world has ever seen in a textile suit and within reach of a world record set during the sport’s infamous super-suit era.

With younger sister Bronte Campbell her training partner and one of her three main rivals for Olympic gold, Cate has all the motivation to keep pushing the limits over the next 12 months to remain the sprint queen of swimming.

A relay gold medallist from the 2012 London Olympic Games, Campbell is Australia’s best gold medal hope in the pool and one of the nation’s most marketable assets out of the water with her friendly demeanour and clean image.

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CAMERON MCEVOY (swimming)

University physics student McEvoy is the man who could really make a big bang in Rio.

McEvoy shocked the world when he toppled world champ James Magnussen and Olympic champ Nathan Adrian in the 100m freestyle at last year’s Pan Pacs on the Gold Coast.

The 21-year-old goes into this week’s world titles in Kazan as a gold medal favourite in the 100m freestyle and a contender in the 200m freestyle.

McEvoy will be primed in Brazil and has the personality to handle the pressure that should come with being among Australia’s top hopes in swimming’s No.1 event.

KIM CROW (rowing)

Kim Crow has remained a dominant force after her London heroics.

BECAME a household name in London when she took home a silver and bronze medal from two separate events by competing in the double and single sculls.

Crow, a former 400m hurdler who finished second to Jana Pittman in the national titles before injury halted her promising athletics career, went one better at the 2013 world rowing championships in South Korea.

She became the first Australian woman to win the single sculls event at a world titles and continues to be a dominant force in the sport in the lead-up to her third Olympic Games.

JASON DAY (golf)

A MAJOR continues to elude Day but the Queenslander will be one of the favourites to win gold as golf returns to the Olympic Games in Rio. The last time golfers were a part of the Games was in 1904 in St Louis.

Day has been runner-up three times at major championships and again was in contention at this year’s British Open before finishing tied for fourth.

His recent Canadian Open victory was his fourth on the PGA Tour and has him now ranked a career-best No.4 in the world.

JESSICA FOX (kayak)

FOX had only just turned 18 when the London Games rolled around in 2012 where she produced a surprise silver medal in the women’s K-1.

Since then, she has gone from strength to strength, becoming world champion in both the C-1 and K-1 (Olympic event) in the US last year.

Fox plans to defend both titles in next month’s world championships which will be held at London’s Lee Valley, the same course as the 2012 Olympics. Selection for Rio will be made after the national and Oceania titles in Penrith in February but that is expected to be a formality in her bid to turn silver into gold next year.

CAROLINE BUCHANAN (BMX)

Caroline Buchanan.

WITH the pain of her 2012 Olympic “nightmare” driving her to Rio, it’s going to take a very good rider to deny Buchanan gold or at the very least a medal next year.

Despite being the No.2 ranked BMX rider in the world, Buchanan missed the start of the final in London and never recovered to challenge the leaders, finishing fifth.

Since then Buchanan has been crowned 2013 Australian Cyclist of the Year after winning world titles in BMX and mountain bike, but it is the BMX track where she is at her best.

Last month the 24-year-old defied wild weather to win a silver medal at the world championships in Belgium.

ANNA MEARES (track cycling)

APPROACHING her fourth and probably final Olympics, sprint queen Anna Meares hopes to go out a winner. Already the most successful female track cyclist in history after her 11th world championship gold medal in Paris this year, Meares is still setting the benchmark at 31.

She remains a major part of Australia’s women’s team sprint and would be a contender in the individual sprint and keirin at Rio, where she will be aiming to add to her haul of two gold, one silver and two bronze medals.

Having broken her own 500m time trial world record as recently as 2013, Meares has shown there is plenty left in the tank.

MATHEW BELCHER/WILL RYAN (sailing)

Mathew Belcher (left) and Will Ryan will defend their 470 class title in Rio.

BELCHER won gold in the 470 class with Malcolm Page at the 2012 London Olympics but since then he has teamed with Will Ryan as they set about defending the title in Rio.

The pair had instant success sailing together by winning gold in the 470 two person dingy class at the 2013 and 2014 world championships and finishing on the podium at every other event since.

The Queenslanders are the current World No.1 ranked team and won a Rio test event last year, which they will be looking to repeat when they take to Guanabara Bay for a second test event later this month.

Providing it’s smooth sailing for the next 12 months they will head to Rio as one of Australia’s leading gold medal hopes of the Games.

ROHAN DENNIS (road cycling)

Rohan Dennis impressed in winning the opening stage of this year’s Tour de France. Picture: Sarah Reed

THE 25-year-old who rides for professional team BMC on cycling’s WorldTour began the year by upstaging teammate Cadel Evans to win the Tour Down Under in January, then three weeks later broke the world hour record on the velodrome in Switzerland.

His biggest victory came in July at the Tour de France, beating stars Fabian Cancellara and Tony Martin to win the yellow jersey by taking the opening time trial.

Dennis made his Olympic debut in London as a member of Australia’s team pursuit which won silver on the track but he is set to return to the Games in Rio chasing gold in the road time trial.

Originally published as Olympics 2016: Australia’s best medal hopes with a year to go to the Rio Games