Great Britain is on course to send its biggest team to an overseas Olympics, with the aim of staying in the “upper echelons” of the medal table at Tokyo 2020.

Team GB recorded their best results since 1908 when 366 athletes brought home a total of 67 medals from Rio 2016. The British Olympic Authority [BOA] predicts 378 athletes will travel to Japan, though there is caution about projecting a medal total to rival Rio.

“The performance in Rio was nothing short of phenomenal but we are bullish about the strength of our preparation [for Tokyo],” said the BOA’s chef de mission, Mark England, who is tasked with directing Team GB at the Games next year. “Eighty quota places [earned through qualifying] have already been secured and we’re shooting for a total of 380 athletes, which would be our biggest team for many years.”

The GB Paralympic team is predicted to total 250 athletes, a decrease on 2016 of 265.

As previously revealed by the Guardian, the British team is also expected to feature more women than men for the first time. England said the BOA was “on the cusp” of attaining that milestone, thanks in part to an “equalisation programme” which will allow female athletes to compete in as many disciplines within a given sport as the men. The BOA is currently projecting 191 women will take part, compared to 187 men.

With a year to go until Tokyo, qualification for the Games is continuing. The women’s hockey team, for example, are yet to confirm their place despite winning gold in Rio. According to the director of performance at UK Sport, Chelsea Warr, British athletes are performing on a par with this point four years ago, but equalling previous achievements would be tough.

“We’re not behind, we’re not in front. I’d probably say we were holding our own,” she said. “We want to see Team GB and Paralympics GB in the upper echelons of the medal table and we want to see more medals and more medallists to inspire the nation.

“Of course we want to do well. And actually, we will. The team will do a really, really good job. But staying in the upper echelons of a medal table is no mean feat and boy it is tough to get there.”