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Unfortunately in LW2x there will be a massacre in Lucerne. There will be only 2 free places and 3 very strong crews from Europe: ITA, FRA, GRE + 1 strong AUS. Each of these crews can win a medal in Paris if they get there. However, due to stupid regulations weak Austria is already in Paris, becouse they got there through a poorly continental tournament. And in 2028 there will be no light weight anymore, only beach rowing

A lot of the Greek rowers have said they stopped or thought of stopping because in rowing they can't make money, and also sometimes they were in a boat with another rower who stopped and then they couldn't find another partner so they stopped too. We also have mostly women who study in the US but now there are a few male Greek rowers who started doing it too. The thing is a lot of these women go and say they want to return to the national team when they graduate, and then they never end up coming back. Or they compete in U23 regattas during the summer, sometimes with success, and sometimes with shockingly poor results (because they probably don't train as much in the US when they are at their universities as they did when they were with the national team full-time). Another issue is that the federation (with our controversial Italian coach) requires the athletes to spend most of the year at the Olympic rowing centre, which is near Athens but in a very isolated area, and most of our rowers are from northern Greece, so they are sent away from their families, usually when they are still in high school even, and they are on a strict training schedule and have no time to study or do anything else in their lives. Stefanos Ntouskos actually said before Tokyo that he would retire if he didn't win a medal, and go to university to become a doctor, as he was already 24 yo and had no income or education, and then he won Olympic gold and got some sponsors so he continued. Also another problem that we have, and maybe Italy has too, is that a lot of our young rowers who do well are not very tall like some of the Romanians are, so the good results at young ages can be misleading, but obviously we have some athletes who were originally lightweight rowers like Ntouskos and now Evangelia Anastasiadou who have proven that you don't have to be 190cm to have a good career in the open categories. Of course there are also many exceptions where we had tall rowers with good results at young ages who also vanished for various reasons.

As expected, Christopher Morales-Williams is expected to compete in the men’s 400m at the SEC Outdoor Championships (May 9-11) Almond Small is also entered in the men’s 100m.

The reserve rower replaced the starter in Tokyo itself due to a case of Covid: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rowing_at_the_2020_Summer_Olympics_–_Men's_coxless_four I used to think that it was about too little money that the Italian Olympic Committee invests in rowing and that is why it is more profitable for some athletes to go to study in the USA and work there, instead of continuing their sports career in Italy. In the UK or the Netherlands, I haven't heard of any cases where someone went to study during the four-year period between the Games, or maybe I'm wrong? What's more, when I look at the Romanian team led by Italian coaches, I see greater stability and continuity in the squads there than in our country. In addition, Romania trains most of the time in Italy. I don't know what the problem is, but the frequent departures to study in the USA - mainly women - and the constant injuries are strange. Perhaps we should follow the example of Romania, which is not as rich a country as the UK, the Netherlands or Germany, but has great results in rowing. Maybe we should bring those coaches back to Italy and let them build such a system here? But it definitely invests more money.

I was also just saying in our national club, our girls dominated the U19 World Championships in 2022, we won gold in W1X, W2-, W2X, and now you are telling me we can't even find girls to try to qualify for a W2X?! None of those five golden girls will be in Paris... One of them is studying in the USA where she competes on the rowing team, another is going to USA after the summer to do the same, another has been training with our national team but wasn't selected for Lucerne (I imagine we will see her on the U23 national team this summer at least), and the other two have not rowed in over a year either for our national team or their clubs. It's such a shame how we are constantly losing these talented young rowers. Also the Greek Rowing Championships start tomorrow and finish on Sunday, I am not sure why they thought to organise it this weekend when it is so close to the Olympic qualification regatta, hopefully some of our athletes won't be too tired when they go to Lucerne...

I'm disappointed in our team. For the most part it was expected, I just didn't know what the crews would be for W1X and W2X. Well now I see that we are sending Fragkou in W1X and no one in W2X! I'm shocked that we are sending a M2-, who have shown they have no chance to qualify here, but not a W2X who I think would've had somewhat of a chance especially if the combination was Fragkou/Kyridou. We should have good chances in M2X, LM2X, and LW2X. Hopefully at least two of those boats can qualify, otherwise it would be kind of a failure in my opinion. W1X we maybe have an outside chance as some of the mail rivals like Puspure and Janzen seem out of form. M2- we have no chance, we are wasting our time, though it is a shame because Palaiopanos really seemed on track to make it to Paris. He won bronze in M2- at the 2019 World U23 Championships, gold in M2X at the 2021 World U23 Championships, then in 2022 competed in M2X with a different partner where he got 5th at the European Championships and 6th at the World Championships, but seems to have regressed since then. He is now 25 yo and this really should be his time to make the Olympics... So far we have only qualified in M1X and W2-, so it's been disappointing but this is our last chance to change it.

You mean they replaced the rower between Lucerne and Tokyo? We have the same problem, so many girls win gold medals at the U23 and U19 World Championships, then go study in the US and then decline as rowers. Or some study in Greece and quit the sport. At least in USA they have rowing teams at the universities. So far the only successful one (who went to USA) seems to be Christina Bourmpou, but she took a year off from her studies to prepare for Paris so it is hard to say. Let's see how she does in Paris, she was 5th in Tokyo and I think she has a real chance at a medal based on what we saw last week at the European Championships.

Welcome to Fiorentina! Hopefully they will be the only foreign team participating in the final

Also really an incredible year for Olympiacos as a club, they now have a Final 4 in men's basketball, Final 4 in men's water polo, and semifinals in UEFA Conference League in men's football. They could potentially win 3 European trophies across 3 sports. Also the women's water polo team lost a few weeks ago in the final of the Champions League. I mean the men's basketball, men's water polo, and women's water polo teams are always one of Europe's best, but to have them all do it in the same year plus having the football team in their first European semifinal and very close to the final after their 2-4 away win in the first leg (we'll see what happens tomorrow) is very impressive even if it's not the top-tier competition.

First time since 2012 to have two teams in the Final Four! Actually only the 5th time ever (1994, 1995, 2009, 2012, 2024). I'm kind of surprised it hasn't happened more but it seems like so many times we had one team make it but not two. Also Fenerbahce has three Greeks on the team, all are important players, and some Greeks on the coaching staff as well (even their head coach was Greek until they got rid of him a few months ago). Yet our senior national team has not qualified for the Olympics since 2008 and has not won a medal in any competition since Eurobasket 2009

Δύο χρόνια μετά και δε θα είναι καμία από αυτά τα χρυσά κορίτσια στην Ολυμπιακή μας ομάδα... Η Γκόγκου σπουδάσει πλέον στο Yale και παράλληλα είναι μέλος της κωπηλατικής ομάδας εκεί (όπου είναι και η Μπορμπου) οπότε μάλλον κάποια στιγμή θα επιστρέψει στην εθνική. Το ίδιο ισχύει για την Δαλίδου που θα αρχίσει το επόμενο εξάμηνο στο Harvard όπου είναι ήδη και η Παπαϊωαννου Χριστίνα. Η Ασβεστα συμμετέχει στα κοινόβια της εθνικής αλλά η ομοσπονδία αποφάσισε να μην στέλνει ομάδα διπλό σκιφ γυναικών στην Προολυμπιακή ρεγκάτα, μάλλον θα την δούμε στο Παγκόσμιο Κ23 τουλάχιστον (το ίδιο πιστεύω για τις Γκόγκου και Δαλίδου...). Οι Αργυράκη και Νάτσιούλα φαίνεται να έχουν σταματήσει το άθλημα δυστυχώς, ούτε τρέχουν στα πανελλήνια. Η Αργυράκη έχει από το Οκτώβρη του 2022 να συμμετέχει σε κοινόβιο της εθνικής και η Νάτσιούλα από το Δεκέμβρη του 2022. Κρίμα...

Να δούμε τώρα τι θα αποφασίσει ο αδερφός του...

Pulling details of next week's Night of the 10,000m PBs and, although she's not on the entry lists, it led me to do some checking on progress of Eilish McColgan. After 2023 blighted by injury, she returned to action in Paris when she was pacemaker for a 10k road race as part of the Paris Marathon events. From the looks of things, she now in a block of altitude training in Colorado and she posted this week that she was training in spikes for the first time since last year. From a selection for Paris perspective, McColgan has the 10,000m standard from March last year although she may have to prove her form to the selectors to confirm her place on the team. If she is looking to double up, she doesn't yet have the standard for 5,000m.

Results Update Event Link Click on the logo to open Quarterfinals Game 5, Day 2

Fiorentina made it to their second successive Conference League final

Results Update Event Link Click on the logo to open Semifinals Second Leg, Day1

Results Update Event Link Click on the logo to open Semifinals Second Leg, Day 2

Will post them tomorrow.

And 4x et Lm4x Lw4x ?

Ο Θανάσης Αντετοκούνμπο έπαθε ρήξη αχιλλείου: Χάνει το Προολυμπιακό

Real Madrid never die! They come back at 88' and scored the winning goal at 91' .... What a match!!!

Imanaga still has the lowest ERA after the first six weeks of the season. Big news is that Pirates called up last year's #1 draft pick RHP Paul Skenes to make his debut vs Cubs on Saturday. Marlins & White Sox "compete" for the worst team of the season honor so far.

My thoughts.....for what they are worth, starting with the sweep crews: Men's Eight: - I still struggle with the logic of Austria prioritising the Eight over some of the smaller boats where they would have had a better chance of qualifying. So in all honesty it will come down to Canada, USA and Italy fighting it out for 2 quotas. Neither USA nor Canada competed in Varese so it is difficult to gauge where they are. Based on performances last year and should start as strong favourites with likely to get the second spot. Italy and Canada went head-to-head twice last year and both times Italy came out on top. Add to that the turn of speed that they have shown early in the season, and they should have enough to get the better of Canada - but it will be close. Women's Eight: - Denmark are a new crew for 2024 but they haven't been able to challenge their European rivals so far this year and I don't see that changing in Lucerne. Although the German men's eight has been steadily rebuilding, their women's crew are still a bit behind their rivals. got to the A-Final at last year's World Champs, but ultimately missed out on qualification. They should put that right in Lucerne and will probably start as favourites. Germany have competed twice this year - they were about 9 seconds behind GB in Varese, but they struggled at the Europeans (with a different crew). They've reverted back to the Varese crew so have given themselves a decent chance to qualify. The problem is that are a complete unknown - as they always are going into an Olympic regatta - but they have a tendency to effectively navigate their way through the qualifying regatta so may well get the second quota. Men's Four: - Although it was on home water, delivered the surprise of the season when they beat GB twice in Varese. Although they couldn't repeat the feat at the Europeans, they are continuing to show great form so should start as favourites for the first quota. Behind them. After a pretty disastrous World Champs where they ended up in Final C, this is a priority boat for . After they finished 4th in Varese, they skipped the Europeans to focus on this - and I expect them to edge out the second quota. I think we're likely to see South Africa, Switzerland, Ukraine and Poland in the final but I don't see them being able to get into the top 2. Women's Four: - In a surprising turn of events, Canada and Germany have elected not to send a crew in this event and with them absent, and should start as favourites based on their performances from last year. Poland could run them close but will likely come up short. Whilst their results this year would suggest that neither Chile or Spain are likely to figure in the quota fight, it's difficult to make a call on Japan as this is another new crew, but the country doesn't have a huge track record in the sweep boats so there is nothing to suggest that they will be able to make the top two. Men's Pair: - Predicting the final for this event is probably easier than predicting the top two as none of the crews have been able to show any real consistency. Denmark were the 1st non-qualifying boat in the World Champs last year and, although they skipped the Europeans to prepare for this after finishing 3rd at Varese, I don't think they'll end up getting a quota. I probably favour and - both have changed up their crews since the World Champs last year and performed well at the Europeans. Women's Pair: - This could be one of the closest races in Lucerne. We haven't seen New Zealand in action yet but they are sticking with the same crew that went to the World Champs last year and finished 13th overall. Italy was the highest finishing non-qualifying crew at the World Champs last year but have struggled for form so far this season. The Jurkovic sisters are possibly the form crew after they finished 3rd at the Europeans and I think they are likely to get one of the two quotas. The second quota should be a fight between New Zealand and Germany and I think should get it.