Tokyo Olympics: 100 days to go - Wales' ones to watch

The Tokyo Olympics begin in exactly 100 days, having been postponed from their original dates last summer due to the coronavirus pandemic.

At the last Games - Rio 2016 - Team GB's Welsh athletes finished with 10 medals, four of them gold. It was the biggest medal haul by Welsh competitors in Olympic history.

BBC Sport Wales takes a look at which athletes could be making the headlines in Tokyo this summer.

Jade Jones (taekwondo)

The 28-year old needs no introduction. She won gold at London 2012, gold again at Rio 2016 and is hoping to win an unprecedented third Olympic title in Tokyo. No British woman in any sport has won gold at three consecutive Olympic Games. She looks to be hitting form at the right time again too, having won gold at the European Championships in Sofia in April.

She says: "People had started knowing my game, whereas now I've totally changed my mentality and my style. I've added a lot more weapons to my game. It gets harder the more you win. So if I win this one, it'll definitely be my best achievement yet."

Elinor Barker (cycling)

Barker has won everything there is to win in track cycling. Already a two-time world champion before taking team pursuit gold in Rio, the 26-year-old has gone on to win titles at the Commonwealth Games, European Championships and three further World Championships. The Cardiff cyclist remains a key part of Britain's commanding women's team pursuit squad and is dreaming of winning a second Olympic gold in the event.

She says: "I've definitely become more resilient to change in the last year. Now I just roll with the punches and am ready for whatever happens. To have that whole experience [of winning Olympic gold] again would just be incredible."

Hannah Mills (sailing)

Hannah Mills and Eilidh McIntyre finished fifth at the 470 World Championships in March, 2021

Sailor Hannah Mills and 470 partner Saskia Clark improved on their silver medal at London 2012 to win gold in Rio. Since then Clark has retired and Mills now sails alongside Eilidh McIntyre, whose father Michael won Olympic gold in 1988.

The duo quickly confirmed their status as one of the world's leading pairs with a world title in 2019. After a long break due to the pandemic, they returned to major competition in March 2021 and, despite a bad start, finished fifth at the 470 World Championships.

Mills says: "Obviously gold is what matters for me personally. But when you do take a step back, I think the potential to unite and inspire and leave an impact on the British public and everyone back home could be amazing. It would be a privilege to hopefully be a part of that."

Lauren Price (boxing)

Wales' first female boxing world champion and current world number one is now aiming for gold at her first Olympic Games. She won kickboxing world titles and played football for Wales before taking up boxing.

Since then Price has become world, European and Commonwealth champion. If she can confirm her place in Tokyo at June's qualifying event, she will go to Japan dreaming of becoming Wales' first ever Olympic champion.

She says: "It's been a dream since I was eight years of age. There's no bigger sporting event than an Olympic Games. It'd be an honour just to get there, but it'd be great to make history and bring that gold back."

Geraint Thomas (cycling)

He may be better known for his achievements on the road these days, but it is important not to forget that Geraint Thomas is a double Olympic champion on the track.

The Welshman won gold in the team pursuit at Beijing 2008 and London 2012, before turning his attention to the road and winning the Tour de France three years ago.

Thomas finished fourth in the time trial at last year's Road World Championships and is aiming to ride in both the road race and TT in Tokyo.

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The only downside? The Olympics start just five days after the 2021 Tour de France finishes in Paris. July could be quite a month for Thomas.

He says: "Selection for GB is tough these days. We've got a lot of young talented guys who want to ride so it'll be hard to make the team. But my aim is to go there and do the two events and do the best I can."

The rising stars

While the former Olympic and world champions will always grab most of the attention, there are plenty of rising stars who could become the household names of the future.

The year-long delay to the Tokyo Games has given a number of younger athletes extra time to put themselves into the mix.

Here are three who could make it all the way to Japan:

Lauren Williams (taekwondo)

A then 17-year-old Williams went to Rio 2016 as a travelling reserve, having been inspired to take up taekwondo after watching compatriot Jade Jones win gold at London 2012.

Now 22, Williams is a double European champion and won silver at last week's Europeans despite suffering an ankle injury in the days before the competition.

She lies fifth in the Olympic rankings and, if she stays fit, a medal is well within reach.

Matt Richards (swimming)

Matt Richards won gold in the men's 100m freestyle at the European Junior Championships in 2019

The 18-year-old is the perfect example of an athlete benefiting from the extra year before Tokyo 2020.

In 2019 he became European junior champion in the men's 100m freestyle, but during the pandemic he has established himself on the senior scene, most notably competing in the International Swimming League in Budapest in November 2020.

Swimming's Olympic trials take place in London this week. The men's freestyle is a competitive event, but this teenager will be right in the mix.

Ethan Vernon (cycling)

Another teenager who emerged from 2020 as a serious contender in the senior set-up. The 19-year-old won silver in the men's 1km time trial at November's European Track Cycling Championships in Bulgaria.

Vernon once held the world's fastest junior 3km individual pursuit time and represented Wales at the 2018 Commonwealth Games.

He clearly has pedigree and will be fighting hard for a spot at Tokyo.

And don't forget about...

Despite the unprecedented and uncertain build-up to this year's Olympics, it could still be one of Wales' most successful, if not the most successful. There are still a handful of world-class athletes we have not even mentioned who could well bring back medals from Tokyo.

Natalie Powell (judo) has won medals at World and European Championships as well as Commonwealth gold in 2014. The 30-year-old also finished seventh at Rio 2016. Powell is ranked sixth in the world and has the ability and experience to end up on the podium this summer.

Wrexham's Victoria Thornley is hoping to become Britain's first ever female Olympic champion in the single sculls

Victoria Thornley (rowing) is aiming for history in Tokyo as no British woman has ever won Olympic gold in the single sculls.

The Wrexham rower won silver in the double sculls at Rio 2016 before switching to the single class.

She has already qualified a spot in the event for Tokyo, but now has to make sure it is hers. In April 2021 she won silver at the European Championships, her first international competition since 2019.

Swimmers Georgia Davies, Alys Thomas, Daniel Jervis and Calum Jarvis are all hoping to book their spots at Tokyo at this week's trials.

But the past year has not been easy as they all had to contend with weeks out of the pool during last year's first lockdown.

Wales' success in Olympic swimming goes back more than a century to when Paulo Radmilovic won gold in London in 1908.

Irene Steer became Wales' first female Olympic champion in Stockholm four years later.

But there have not been any Welsh Olympic swimming champions since. On their day this quartet are amongst the best in the world and this week's trials will go a long to showing what kind of shape they are in.

Tokyo 2020 will be a unique Olympic Games. It has already been decided that no foreign spectators will be allowed to attend.

More detailed guidelines and protocols for the competitors are expected soon.

How Wales' top athletes will perform in Tokyo is as much of an unknown. But in exactly 100 days we will begin to find out.

The Tokyo Olympic Games will take place from 23 July to 8 August 2021.