The Ones to Watch in 2016 by Clare Balding

Clare says: "London 2012 saw the likes of Jessica Ennis, Mo Farah, Greg Rutherford, Nicola Adams and the Brownlee brothers become household names, as the nation took them to their hearts following their monumental sporting success on home turf.

All eyes will be on them again this summer, while track cyclist Laura Trott and dressage star Charlotte Dujardin are vying to become the most decorated British female Olympians in history.

But who else could make their mark on the international sporting stage and emerge as a breakthrough name at Rio 2016?

Here are my top picks, selected from the new generation of star athletes who could catapult themselves into the sporting history books."

Athletics

Dina Asher-Smith
The Londoner became the fastest ever teenage girl over 200m at the 2015 World Championships in Beijing, where she broke the 31 year-old British record in finishing fifth in the final.

Now 20, the former world junior champion is combining her training with a degree in history - she is definitely capable of making more of her own in Rio this summer.

Also watch out for… Katarina Johnson-Thompson (heptathlon).
The 23 year-old looked on course to challenge Jessica Ennis-Hill for the World Championship title last year before three fouls in her favoured long jump ended her hopes. If she can be more consistent, particularly in the field events, she will be among the favourites in Rio. It should be a great battle between the two Brits for the title.

Boxing

Joe Joyce
GB boxing’s stand-out man in 2015, he is fancied to trouble the medal positions in Brazil after securing super-heavyweight bronze at the World Championships.

A multi-talented sportsman, the 30 year-old also studied a degree in fine art and the Londoner will hope to emulate friend and former team-mate Anthony Joshua at the Olympics.

Track cycling

Becky James
After missing out on a place at the London Olympics, James bounced back in 2013 to win four medals - including two golds – in the sprint disciplines at the World Championships.

The Welsh cyclist then endured injury and illness problems and was out for almost two years, missing the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

However, she made a successful comeback on her return to the World Championships in March, winning a bronze medal in the keirin, and looks to be back on track at just the right time.

Diving

Jack Laugher
The 21 year-old Yorkshireman enhanced his growing reputation by winning two bronze medals at last year’s World Championships in Russia. The 3m springboard specialist became only the second British diver - after Tom Daley - to win an individual World Championships medal, and alongside Chris Mears he also claimed Great Britain’s first podium finish at that level in the synchronised event.

Leeds-based Laugher (pronounced Law) won the overall World Series title in 2015 following three impressive victories. The previous year he earned two Commonwealth gold medals and a silver in Glasgow.

Laugher became Britain’s first world junior diving champion for 11 years in 2010, prompting the watching American diving great Greg Louganis to tout the Brit as a future senior world champion.

Golf

Charley Hull
Hull made her professional debut in March 2013, aged just 17, and was runner-up in her first five tournaments on the Ladies European Tour.

Later that year she was picked to represent Europe in the Solheim Cup - the women's equivalent of the men's Ryder Cup. Hull was their youngest ever player and helped Europe to lift the trophy on USA soil for the first time.

She was named Rookie of the Year after her impressive debut season and claimed her first professional title at the Lalla Meryem Cup in Morocco in 2014.

Sailing

Giles Scott
Scott is red-hot favourite for a gold medal in Rio. Beaten just once in the Finn class since April 2013, he picked up his third World Championship title in November. He also won the Rio test event in 2014. He has flourished since coming out of the shadow of Sir Ben Ainslie, who narrowly beat him at the London Olympic trials. Scott is also part of Ainslie’s America’s Cup team for next year.

Swimming

Adam Peaty
Peaty has been a revelation since his breakthrough in 2014. He won European and Commonwealth titles that year and followed it up with world records and three world titles in 2015. He’s a medal prospect primarily in the 100m breaststroke and potentially the medley relay.

Also watch out for James Guy
The biggest shock of 2015 - no-one saw him challenging for medals at the World Championships, let alone winning gold. He was amazing over 200m and 400m, winning gold in the former and silver in the longer event. Guy struck gold again in Kazan in the 4 x 200m freestyle relay, taking the British quartet from third to first on the final leg of the relay to claim Britain’s first ever men's relay title at a World Championships.

Taekwondo

Bianca Walkden
In May 2015, Walkden became only the second Briton ever to clinch taekwondo gold at the World Championships, following in the footsteps of Sarah Stevenson, who won in 2001 and 2011. The Liverpudlian overcame two serious knee injuries to win the +73kg world title and she will hope to emulate her housemate Jade Jones, who won Olympic gold in 2012.

Tennis

Johanna Konta
British number one Konta is making the Olympics her top priority this summer and she is well placed to make a Brazilian breakthrough.

It has been a year to remember so far for Konta, who turns 25 on 17 May. She became the first British woman for 33 years to reach a Grand Slam semi-final at the Australian Open in January. That followed her progression to the fourth round of the US Open last September.

Born in Sydney to Hungarian parents, she moved to England at the age of 14 and qualified as a British citizen in 2012.

Triathlon

Non Stanford
Wales’ Non Stanford made a successful transition from track running to triathlon after a series of injuries kept her off the track. Her breakthrough year was 2012, when she won gold in the Under-23 World Championships and then followed that with the senior title in 2013.

Injuries ruled Stanford out of most of the 2014 season, including the Commonwealth Games, but she returned the following year in fine form and secured her ticket to Rio in September with at the World Triathlon Grand Final in Chicago. She has targeted a medal this summer and, after winning her first race of 2016, she looks on course to fulfil her promise.

Related BBC Links

• BBC Sport - Olympics > Rio 2016