(ATR) Sport expert Luciano Barra projects Germany to lead the medals table at the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Games.
Based upon world championship results from the past winter season, he says Germany is on a pace to win 14 gold medals and 30 total medals.
Norway ranks second, projected to win 14 gold and 27 total, while the United States is expected to claim 10 gold and 25 medals overall.
Barra’s ranking factors in results of 96 of 98 Winter Olympic medal events. The men’s ice hockey world championship in Prague and the figure skating team event in Tokyo are still to be contested and will be added to the next tabulation.
All seven winter sports federations held world championships this past winter season.
Russia, which tallied more gold and total medals at the home Sochi Games, comes in fourth with eight gold medals, but lags in sixth in overall medals one less than Austria and France.
Barra, the former director general of CONI, emphasizes that these are projections, and not predictions.
He tells Around the Rings that the tabulation comes just one year since the Sochi Games and much can change between now and PyeongChang 2018.
"It is not so realistic, because the years after the Olympics some athletes stop, others are coming up, so it is more to measure the trend of different countries," Barra said.
"The real situation will be seen in the next years."
Of Germany’s 14 gold medals from this past season’s world championships, five were from Nordic skiing; and three each in bobsleigh/skeleton, luge and biathlon. In Sochi, Germany finished sixth overall in both gold medals (8) and total medals (19).
Eleven of Norway’s 12 gold medals and 20 of 27 total medals came at the Nordic world championships in Falun, Sweden in February.
The table was released this weekend following the conclusions of the women’s ice hockey world championship in Malmo, Sweden and the men’s curling world championships in Halifax, Canada. The United States and Sweden respectively took gold in those two events.
Barra is well-known in Olympic circles and has been releasing the table for 15 years since he was sport director with the Italian Olympic Committee.
"For some countries it is a way to understand how they are doing and what their approach is with their programs," Barra said.
"When you meet national federations they normally will tell you that they will win everything and it is always important to better informed then what they are saying."
"This is the reason I started this while I was with the Italian Olympic Committee," Barra said.
Barra was one of the leaders for the 2006 Turin Winter Games and has also worked with cities bidding to host the Games.
Written by Brian Pinelli.
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