Norway Expected to Top Medal Table in PyeongChang

(ATR) A year out from the PyeongChang Winter Games and Norway is the favorite to finish on top of the Medal Table.

Gracenote Sports, as it has done for previous Games, is presenting its "Virtual Medal Table" in the run up to the Olympic Games in Korea. The initial version of the table, which will be updated monthly, was revealed on Friday.

At this point, Norway is expected to pick up 40 medals, including 15 gold, to lead the table. Should the forecast prove true, it would be a record number of podium placements for any country in the history of the Winter Games.

Germany is in second with 34 medals (13 gold) with the United States in third with 32 (10 gold). The 13 golds would be a record for Germany and the 10 golds would equal the record for the USA.

France is projected to have the best Winter Games in its history, with 22 medals including 10 gold. The current French record is 15 total medals and four golds garnered in Sochi 2014.

Russia is expected to struggle in PyeongChang. Gracenote sees the Russian team taking home 22 medals, 11 fewer than on home soil in 2014 in Sochi. Russian participation in Korea is still up in the air in the wake of the McLaren reports that revealed state-sponsored doping.

The host country South Korea is predicted to finish in eighth place with 10 medals, including a record-tying six gold medals.

A record 29 different countries are forecasted to win medals at next year’s Winter Olympic Games.

Gracenote says it uses performance data from thousands of events and an extensive Olympic database dating back more than 100 years to forecast the most likely gold, silver and bronze medal winners by country.

Written by Gerard Farek

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