Paris 2024: Who are the Scots to watch at the Olympics?

It is now just six months until athletes are paraded on boats up the River Seine to mark the opening of the Paris Olympics.

By that time, it will be just three years since the last Games in Tokyo, and event delayed by Covid-19, where Scottish athletes claimed 16 of Great Britain's 64 medals.

Many of the same faces are gearing up to replicate that success, while others are aiming to win their first Olympic medal.

Here are just some of those Scottish athletes as the countdown to Paris continues.

• Caudery targets indoor medal in Glasgow

Athletics

Scotland is currently enjoying a golden generation of middle-distance track athletes. The men's 1500m world champion, Josh Kerr, took a brilliant bronze in Tokyo before his crowning moment in Budapest last year.

He and his former Edinburgh Athletics Club team-mate, Jake Wightman, will aim to take the fight to Norway's Olympic champion, Jakob Ingebrigtsen. Wightman is back fit after a difficult time with injuries in 2023, having claimed the world 1500m title himself the year before.

On the women's side, Laura Muir will do her utmost to get on the podium again after her 1500m silver in Japan.

After splitting from long-term coach Andy Young a year ago, the 30-year-old is aiming to get back to her best this season, starting with the World Indoor Championships in Glasgow next week.

The same goes for Jemma Reekie, who looked sharp in setting a championship record over 800m at the UK Indoor Championships last week.

Commonwealth 10,000m champion Eilish McColgan is injured right now, but her target is to get back to the form that led to her breaking Paula Radcliffe's British 10,000m record last March in time to get to Paris.

Cycling

Katie Archibald was one of three Scottish athletes to win gold three years ago, claiming the Madison title with Laura Kenny, as well as silver in the team pursuit.

Archibald had another impressive year in 2023, the 29-year-old claiming the Track Champions League to demonstrate her consistency.

She could be joined by friend and fellow Scot Neah Evans in the Madison and pursuit teams in Paris, having also been part of the silver-medal winning pursuit quartet in Tokyo.

The 33-year-old Evans won the Madison world title in Glasgow last year alongside Elinor Barker, having also won the points race crown the year before as the late bloomer continues to produce big performances.

Sprinter Jack Carlin has racked up numerous medals in his career too, including a team sprint silver last time out. Again, he will hope to be in the mix for medals come Paris.

Swimming

When you think of Scotland in the pool, you think Duncan Scott. The Alloa swimmer made history in Tokyo by winning four medals, the most any British athlete has gathered at a single Olympics.

Duncan Scott won four medals at the last Olympics

Due to illness and some changes to his training, Scott's form was up and down in 2023 and this month's world championships did not yield a medal either. However, his focus has always been on producing his best for the British trials in April and, if all goes to plan, in Paris.

Kathleen Dawson, the British record holder for the 50m and 100m backstroke, was part of Britain's 4x100m medley mixed relay quartet that took a stunning gold in Japan and she will target more success.

Rowing

Rowan McKellar and Karen Bennett finished an agonising fourth in the women's four in Tokyo. Any regrets at missing the podium could be laid to rest come the summer.

McKellar, from Lochwinnoch, won a British trial event in the women's pair alongside Heidi Long at the end of 2023 to put a marker down for the year.

The 35-year-old Bennett is also competing fiercely for a spot on the British team after a fourth-place finish at last year's world championships as part of the women's eight, the event in which she took silver in Rio eight years ago.

Triathlon

Beth Potter became triathlon world champion last year and won the test event around the Paris course last August to boot.

Having competed at Rio in the 10,000m, the Bearsden athlete could complete a sensational sport switch with Olympic glory, having not even owned a bike before opting to give triathlon a go seven years ago.

Potter has the form and confidence to compete for the top prize.

Shooting

Seonaid McIntosh finished last year as the world number one in the 10m air rifle and set a new world record in the three positions rifle too, having been a world champion in the 50m prone back in 2018.

The 27-year-old Edinburgh shooter, whose mum Shirley, dad Donald and sister Jen have all competed internationally, had a rough time in Tokyo after failing to make the final of her events.

However, she will once again be fighting for a podium place in Paris.