Though the 2022 Winter Olympics seem far in the future, Norway is already predicted to top the medals table. The next Winter Olympics are to be held in Beijing, China and the countdown has already begun. An agency by the name of Gracenote Sports, known for their hand in statistical analysis, has released their projections, which favor Norway’s athletes.
Norway had a very strong showing in the last Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang and the 2022 Olympics are expected to be even better for the country. Gracenote Sports estimates that Norway will win 25 gold and 41 medals overall. More notably, Norwegian athletes are predicted to win significantly more gold medals than any other nation.
To put this into perspective, Norway was at the top of the medals tally in 2018, winning 39 total medals and 14 gold medals, compared to Germany which took home 31 total medals and tied Norway with 14 golds. In 2022, Russia is expected to come in second with seven fewer medals, followed closely by Germany and the United States.
Among the successful Norwegian athletes returning in 2022, cross-country skier Johannes Høsflot Klæbo is hoping to add to his three gold medals won in 2018. Freestyle skier Birk Ruud is hoping to follow suit, saying, “My goal is to ski in all three disciplines and I’ll do my best…The dream situation will be three medals around my neck.”
Interestingly enough, at one point Norway had a bid in to host the 2022 Winter Olympics in Oslo. In fact, they were favored due to the success of the 1994 Lillehammer Olympics. However, Norway ended up withdrawing the bid due to the high cost and demands of hosting.
Though predicting results is never easy, this year brings about an added layer of complexity caused by the global health situation. Athletes’ training schedules were disrupted and many had to adapt to the changing policies. What this means for countries and their athletes is unknown but regardless, it will be very fun to watch.