Five young British females to watch ahead of 2016 Olympics

After the successes of Jessica Ennis, Mo Farah and Greg Rutherford in claiming gold medals at the London Olympics, hopes are high that this can be built on in 2016 in Rio.

The likes of Perri Shakes-Drayton, James Dasaolu and Dai Greene are of the age to peak in Brazil, but there are other upcoming young British athletes that are capable of causing a stir between now and then.

Here are five talented females below.

Jessica Judd – Women’s 800m

Judd has already broken 2:00.00 this season at the Birmingham Diamond League meeting despite still being aged only 18 and will therefore represent Team GB at the World Championships in Moscow.

She had won all six races this season until finishing second in the UK trials when impacted by a calf problem and continued improvement in the coming years will make her a serious medal contender in Rio.

Katarina Johnson-Thompson – Heptathlon

The 20-year-old’s name may already be fairly recognised after she finished 15th in the last Olympics in London and her progress has been continuous since bettering Jessica Ennis’ British junior record.

She is another on the plane to Moscow having recently won the European under-23 Championships and could be ready to threaten Ennis soon, although she still has 700 points to find on the Olympic gold medalist.

Jodie Williams – Women’s 100m

Williams is perhaps best remembered for a 151-race unbeaten streak as a junior that lasted over five years, but she has dropped off the radar slightly in recent times after injuring a hamstring in the UK trials prior to the London Olympics.

She is still only 19 though and it should be remembered that she has a 11.19secs clocking over 100m to her name.

Gold in the European under-23 Championships over 200m and silver in the 100m suggests she is building back up to her best.

Morgan Lake – Women’s heptathlon/high jump

Although currently competing as a heptathlete, Lake may have greater joy dedicating herself solely to the high jump.

She cleared 1.90m in the high jump at the World Youth Games heptathlon, which was the highest by a Brit of any age since 2011 and was higher than current Olympic champion Anna Chicherova managed at the same youth event in 1999.

Sabrina Bakare – Women’s 400m

Bakare recently ran the 400m in 52.77secs to take gold at the World Youth Games, which is the fastest by a British under-20 athlete since 1991 and the seventh quickest by a UK athlete of any age in 2013 so far.

With Christine Ohuruogu’s younger sister Victoria also appearing on the women’s 400m radar, the event looks in safe hands for Team GB.

All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.