By Mohamed Hamza

Katarina Johnson-Thompson will hope to make up for lost time and finally capture what has been an elusive Olympic crown on Day 14 of the 2024 Paris Olympics.

The double world champion heptathlete missed out on medals at London 2012 and Rio 2016, with these two Olympics perhaps too soon for the then-budding star.

And while Johnson-Thompson looked set to conquer Tokyo 2020 after capturing her first world gold in Doha in 2019, a ruptured Achilles tendon disrupted her preparations before a torn calf muscle led to her disqualification.

Now fully recovered, and with another world gold added to her trophy cabinet, the Liverpudlian will arrive in Paris for the women’s heptathlon at the peak of her powers but will face stiff competition in the form of Belgium’s Nafissatou Thiam.

The Belgian star took home gold in the heptathlon in Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020 and will have her sights set on a third successive Olympic triumph.

Staying on track and field, medals will also be up for grabs in the men’s and women’s 4x100 relay.

Team GB had to be content with silver in the men’s 4x100 last time out in Tokyo - before being stripped of their medal entirely after CJ Ujah’s confirmed doping violation.

Three years on, the men’s relay team will head to Paris in search of redemption. Anchored by Zharnel Hughes, they will be confident of their chances to make amends, while 34-year-old ‘Teesside Tornado’ Richard Kilty - among those robbed of his medal last time - is determined to end his Olympic career on a high.

Moving onto the water, Grace Reid will be contesting the women’s 3m springboard final with the hope of banishing the ghosts of defeat.

The Scot reached the final of the event in her maiden Olympic Games in 2016 but was forced to settle for a silver medal in Rio, while her travails in Tokyo 2020 only resulted in a 19th-place finish in the 3m springboard and a sixth-place finish in the women’s 3m synchro.

In field hockey, medals will be on offer in the women’s final, with perennial contenders Great Britain poised to clinch a second gold medal in the sport after triumphing in Rio 2016.

Elsewhere, the men’s football final will thrill and delight, and while Olympic hosts France are one of the favourites to appear in the final, they will have to make do without the talents of Kylian Mbappe, with his participation blocked by new club Real Madrid.

Thierry Henry, managing his home country at the Games, named a preliminary squad featuring the likes of former Arsenal man Alexandre Lacazette, Crystal Palace duo Jean-Philippe Mateta and Bayern Munich-bound Michael Olise, as well as PSG prodigy Warren Zaïre-Emery.

Les Bleus boast two medals at the Olympic Games in men's football - silver on home soil in Paris back in 1900 and gold at Los Angeles 1984 - and will be confident of adding to that tally.

Do not miss: The 4x100m relay finals are a highlight of any Olympics and these will be no different. Britain’s women claimed bronze in Tokyo and three of that quartet - Dina Asher-Smith, Imani-Lara Lansiquot and Daryll Neita - are back for more. Jamaica will be favourites to do the men’s and women’s double, however.

Star of the day: Shaunae Miller-Uibo has won back-to-back women’s 400m golds and is attempting a remarkable hat-trick. She competed at the 2022 World Championships just four months after giving birth and is a national hero in the Bahamas.

Best Brit: Katarina Johnson-Thompson is the natural choice but keep an eye out for Toby Roberts in the sport climbing. The vlogger and F1 fanatic from Elstead in Surrey became the first-ever British male to seal an Olympic spot in his sport when he won a qualifier and appears a character who will thrive on the big stage.

Watch every moment of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 live only on discovery+, the streaming home of the Olympics.