ExpandTeam GB results from World Triathlon Championship Series Abu Dhabi:
Women's Entry:
Kate Waugh - 10th
Men's Results:
Ben Dijkstra - 8th
Max Stapley - 11th
Harry Leleu - 16th
Hugo Milner - 31st
The
Mixed Relay team failed to finish.
1. Of course, after that who Lottry funded set are announced, it's the unfunded Djikstra who is top Brit, with the unfunded Stapely second brit.
2. Putting WTCS behind a homegrown paywall is disastrous. Had no idea the season started this weekend, and much as I like the sport, I'm not paying a premium for it. Lot of short sidghted decisions recently in this field - see also the death of Eurosport.
ExpandMy entirely snap judgment is that Judo and Badminton are *extremely* lucky to receive uplifts considering their recent record, and also that UK Sport clearly has little support for UKA right now.
My own suspicion is
a) Athletics takes up a lot of the individual awards, which apparently aren't counted
b) UKA got some money from UK Sport when they were on the brink last year, and this drop reflects money essentially paid in advance; and
c) yes, UKA spending has been a bit of a shambles for a while.
Canoe may feel rather put out given the slalom success, but the flatwater programme is poor outside paracanoe, which got separate funding.
That's said, Canoe still gets a decent wedge. THe money for Wrestling, handball and volleyball seem almost pointless. For Handball and Volleyball to actually fall behind flag football, lacrosse and baseball is really pretty grim for those two sports.
Edited by mpjmcevoySecond junior world gold for Cat Ferguson today, an absolute barnstormer of a cyclist, and second possibly only to Zoe Backstedt in the excitement raising for the sport in GB
ExpandSquad announced for next week's MTB World Championships:
Men's Elite:
Tom Pidcock
Charlie Aldridge
Cameron Orr
Men's Under 23:
Joseph Blackmore
Max Greensill
Elite Women:
Evie Richards
Annie Last
Isla Short
Women's Under-23:
Ella Maclean-Howell
With an eye towards Los Angeles, it will be interesting to see what Alridge and the under-23 guys can achieve. For the women the bench seems a little bit thinner - all three of our elite riders are over 27 so whilst not impossible that Richards or Short could still be competing in 2028, we're probably going to be relying on Maclean-Howell to secure GB spot in LA and even then, we may need her to move into the elite rank at the start of the 2026 season.
It's always hard to tell, but to be honest, I don't think that's a bad squad looking forward, esp Aldridge - I do also wonder if this indicates something re Pidcock. He's not happy at Ineos, the Hayters have both left, Iget the feeling the sponsors interest has wained, the original principal's interest too and the team is in the doldrums - in addition, their raison d'etre is not only stimied by the superstar generation, but in a sense is now not needed, there's TONNEs of brit riders in the pro peloton now.
I don't think Pidcock has it to be a GC rider - he's a great classics guy, but he loves MTB - I wonder if there's a team outside INEOS will offer him both, maybe with a bit CycloX, but broadly not bother with the GTs and stage racing, and try and get Sponsor value from his dualism,,
I see the British domestic competition has been confirmed as SuperLeague Basketball. Nine clubs, with Plymouth pulling out. All a bit embarrassing but probably the only sensible answer to the 777 debacle, in the short term anyway. The only light at the end of the tunnel is that ice hockey went through something similar with Sekonda superLeague, and its replacement EIHL has become a reasonable product that actually got GB Ice Hockey moving upwards a bit.
ExpandThat is insanely good news! Move over Kennys we have a new power couple
That's utter madness. GB suddenly have 2 and 3 of the top sprinters alive, the dutch have 1 and 4...
Penny for the thoughts of cycling australia - actually don't need a penny, I've read them already, super giant huff!
ExpandThe 400m is going to be a dog fight. You have a bevy of athletes going 44 flat, and then Matt and Quincy going 43.7.
Doom from Belgium I think has to be respected for a bronze shout, in addition to the names we saw in London finishing behind MHS (including Dobson). I feel like he is going to have to go another PB and probably a 2 tenths PB to medal.
I agree, but would say Dobson is the one athlete behind the current big two still taking chunks out of his PB - with respect, the idea of a Brit now running 44.2 not being seen as at least a medal shot is unprecedented, and I genuinely believe there might be a 44 flat in him even this year. as for the winner, that 43.7 by Matt was electric, but he didn't even run through...there's at least another tenth, possibly two in there.
ExpandI tend to agree although it was interesting to hear Phoebe’s tactics at trials were not to front run as we have seen her do when setting her 1m 57.
My gut tells me Phoebe can do something really special in Paris in a fast race where she doesn’t have to lead all 2 laps. The Brits would be suited by Moraa going out hard, Phoebe taking over when she slows with 400 to go and Keely and Reekie making their moves in last 200.
I will say this. much slower race, but in the last 100 Phoebe put more metres into Reekie at Trials than Keely did today. But that was off the back of 29.1, 29.1, 29.1 today
ExpandIt's the nature of the pole vault. There is a fair degree of variability in performance, but her medal chances would have to be a fair bit more than 50% if someone was to model it accurately.
The 800m was interesting, Reekie can essentially get towed along behind Keely and stay relatively close (which I wasn't expecting). Could it be possible the Brits go 1-2-3...Mary will have a big say but after watching that race today, maybe its not a complete impossibility. Great form for Bell as well going into the 1500m.
The thing today was Keely laid off the pacemaker (so no 'draft') but absolutely ran her own race - exactly the tactics she used to beat Mary earlier this year, and I suspect the tactical game plan they've come up with to neutralise Moraa's ridiculous mucking about with tempo and pace. If Reekie has decided that her best gameplan is to track Keely like a limpet, it's a very good game plan that clearly works for her. It also creates the possibility of a GBR 'wall; in the final if they get there.
The rogue element is Gill. How does she react, in particular, to Moraa's antics, given her lack of experience. My hunch is she will reach the final, and when there might just rabbit, deny Moraa the lead and make the race very fast. if so, it plays right into Keely's hands because it forces Moraa's pace up in the first 500, robbing her of her spoiler slow middle 200.
we shall see. absolutely intriguing.
ExpandI think i would move the m4x100 to medal contender.
I still have faith hughes can get into some sort of form to challenge for bronze in 100....infact i have more faith in him challenging than i do with dina right now
Azu, Hinch and a clearly-returning-from-a-worse-injury-than-he-admitted Hughes actually looked ok here, 2 sub 10, 1 10 flat. Medal chances are not huge, but if Hughes keeps coming back, the man ran 9.83 last year, and Noah and Oblique aside, no-one is pulling up trees. An Azu-Hinch-NMB-Hughes team is still a strong medal outfit in my view - even today Azu and Hinch were on a flyer before calamity struck.
For me the medal chance tiers are (out of 10)
10: Should win gold, roaring favourite - Keely
9: Very strong gold chance, probably favourite - Matt
8:
7: Good gold chance, strong medal favourite - Josh, Molly
6: Outside gold chance , strong medal chance - W4x1, M4x4
5:
4: good medal chance, gold unlikely - Jemma, M4 x 1, KJT
3: outside medal chance, worth a watch - W 4 x 4, Pattison/Wightman, Muir/Bell,
2: As 3: but less so - Zharnel 100, Dina 100, Sember 100h
1: who the hell knows - X x 4
0: Won't see that coming - Anyone else.
for the record, in 2012 I'd have put Farah !0 and 9 in the two events, ennis 9 Ohurougu 5, Grabarz 2 and rutherford 6
ExpandThe validity of entry lists was shown by the U18 team earlier today, when we substituted someone in even later than the official start list (presuming they had a last minute injury)!
That being said, that would be the team you would put out if you were thinking "we don't really care about this". Which would be weird for a federation that seems to be prioritising results over everything these days.
Here's the problem - only care about medals ? The best chance is probably the mixed 4 x 4, using Matt, Charlie Dobson, Anna A and Lavaia. That team is probably evens to win the damn thing, certainly in the top 4 favourites - the dutch women are faster, but their men are mediocre, the American's absolutely will not put their top 4 in - no way on earth. The top Irish team are strong, but this team looks stronger. Jamaicas men are week, relatively.
But there is also no way Matt would agree to run this. He'd be insane to.
So do you put out a decent but not great side, only to finish 5th or 6th, or worse, while a handful of teams prioritise it to get a much desired medal (e,g, the Irish, the dutch) and the American understrength team beats GB understrength team? Or do you give a couple of your squad members a run-out so they can claim to be Olympians, and possibly, possibly, sneak a bronze if everyone does the same?
ExpandI believe so. Not sure if any nominated reserves were formally declared.
on the women’s side, a sub 50 for laviai and Amber, with Vicky going 50.76. A solid win for YMJ in a 51.16 rounds out the women’s form team for the relay in addition to Jessie and Lina.
I have no idea who they will “burden” with the mixed relay, although I think the decision to preserve Matt is becoming more justified. Would be interested if they still go with Amber Charlie and 2 others in a final (if they get there) to give them a shot at a medal
the official website has a named mixed team. It's...underwhelming.
Edited by mpjmcevoy
ExpandLina smashes her PB in the 400m flat and goes 50.78.
Interesting and welcome boost to the women's 4x4 chances. With the lack of form shown by Ohorougu, the sisters look like joining Amber as pencilled in names for the first choice squad.
Odd, I though Vicky might find form, but Bianca in the 200 seems to be doing better. worth noting some improvement in Jessie Knight too. The one thing GBR has in its favour is depth. It has no Bol, No Syd, No Rhasidat..but it has a lot of very good 400 women coming into decent form at roughly the same time - it's a pity that neither Mary yemi nor Ama has quite kicked on this year, but MYJ may still show, Jode looks actually in ok shape, and the Nielsens and Amber look pretty strong. If GB #1 Amber doesn't lose too much to the superstars in 4 or 5 teams, the Neilseens can probably hold their own against everyone else bar USA, and then there's a medal chance depending on who 'man 4' is. FWIW I always like hurdlers on the relay, because they're rarely faster, but they're often stronger at the point the races start resembling middle distance
I see Amelie Blockridge won the Euro Jr 5km open water today, backing up her 1500, 800 Jr double a couple of weeks ago...
ExpandGuliano is who I had in mind; on inspection Alexy is not doing the individual 200m.
no idea about Tom’s desires but from a pure outsider’s perspective it would look like a team call. Tom v Jacob to me is a toss up, I’d lean Tom but ultimately I don’t see either of them making the final in the 100m so we have to do what we can to ensure all the men’s relays make the finals, without sacrificing genuine individual medal chances
Realistically, who are the genuine individual medal chances?
ExpandTo be fair we don’t know if any of our swimmers will get disciplinary action for the inevitable anti Chinese doping protests they will do like they did in 2019 at the worlds.
Stop. It.
litchfield is already listed for 4x1 free heats, as are anderson and okora in w4x1 and mcmillan in 4x1 and 4x2. they do seem to be treating joe like a liability!
Whittle's solo race is fortunate, but is clearly to create maximum flexibility in relays. Guy is intriguing, but he does seem to have found some mojo
Edited by mpjmcevoySome interesting withdrawals and selections - no individual swims for Freya Anderson, Joe Litchfield or Eva Okoro - the last one perhaps the most surprising, since Alex Cahoon and Jacob Whittle both get individual swim , no doubt with relay eligibility in mind. Litchfield, McMillan is named already for mens 4 x 1 heat, Anderson and Okora for women's 4 x 1 and 4 x 2. James guy gets the individual swim in 100 butterfly. wilby pulls out of 200 breast, Laura Stephens scratchs 100, Angharad Evans gets an individual swim
Assuming Anderson is simply not 100% recovered, every single choice - bar evans who is rewarded obviously for form - seems to be picked with relays in mind. Possibly a bit hard on Okoro
ExpandCan’t quite do it like Swimming and base it on times and distances at trials as would have to take into account the weather which could have a big impact on if someone can get that time or distance that day.
Never bothered them before. Wouldn't bother them again.
ExpandAnd there has been speculation that World Atheltics might do away with qualifying times entirely.
In which case, UKA like British Swimming, will simply invent their own 'top 8' qualification marks.
ExpandIt’s hard to see Athletes ever trusting the management because the issues go beyond the selection issues - they are other issues that are causing tensions as well.
I feel like World Athletics will come under pressure as well - is it fair for them to run an invite system and promote that when so many governing bodies don’t agree with if.
'Trust' and 'fair' ain't got nothing to do with it. It is the most fundamental of errors to confuse the verb "should" with the verb "will". Management don't need athletes trust, and have little to no interest in it - so long as Athletes won't act in co-ordinated boycott - and they never will - the powers that be can do what they like; all they need is UK Sports money, and that is the only opinions they will value.
ExpandIt shows mainly there is a lack of trust and respect towards the those who make the decisions. We didn’t see this reaction from those left out from the swimming team.
You did in the past - very much so. And they were ignored time and time again, and finally they stopped talking about it because they knew it wasn't going to chaNGE.
In an ironic twist, one of the athletes selected by UK Athletes for a ranking spot, Pat Dever in the 10,000m has not made it in that event, falling below the cutoff.
Happily, Dever is safely in the 5000m (I wish he'd got in the 10,000!)
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The mixed events needs to go. The soccer move was dumb too. Could have easily kept it at 12 across thr board and saved quotas -
By copravolley · Posted
Italy, reinforced by 4 naturalized Canadians, finally look like a team that will be able to advance higher, but of course we have to think match by match. Tomorrow we must to win against Kazakhstan. This group is very even and anyone can beat anyone, except maybe the weakest Slovenia. -
The IOC approved some major ISSF changes, which will go into effect as early as the next competitions Approved proposals include increasing the number of athletes in shotgun and the men’s 25m rapid fire pistol event finals from six to eight The 50m rifle 3 positions finals will feature just the standing position. Qualification still requires prone, kneeling and standing sections. Changes have been made to the mixed team finals too, no longer creating gold and bronze-medal matches. Instead, all four teams who progress from qualification will compete together, following an elimination format instead. -
Small thing there, men's boxing has the same number of events and athletes as in Paris. Women's boxing also has the same athlete quota, but with one more event now. -
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Ah yes, today was the dreaded "IOC news day"... As usual there is barely anything to smile at. Men's boxing losing more weights is absurd, especially since their "gender parity agenda" is out of the window after switching the football. Swimming getting the 50s in an already bloated program was sadly inevitable. With US and AUS the next hosts, I'm surprised swimming doesn't have 100 events to begin with. All the new mixed stuff is Frankenstein as usual, especially the tennis and gymnastics. No one asks for these, even within these sports, but the IOC only care about "Let's have all the stars interact more with each other for maximum TV talk and social engagement, who cares about sporting traditions". Climbing splitting the events is a positive, though for me personally I didn't see any problem with the combined. It actually showed the true overall best climbers, while now the specialists in one event will get more chances to sneak a medal. Host sports with 6 teams are a joke and shouldn't award medals! Have them as exhibition events with a trophy etc. for the winners, but shouldn't be included in the medal table. But what do I know. And still no news on the most important thing for me - extending the Games to 3 full weeks. Things will be crammed, crammed again.. -
Thursday April 10th, 2025 - Round-Robin Day 2 Schedule (GMT +1) 13:00 Italy vs Kazakhstan 16:30 Latvia vs Slovenia 20:00 South Korea vs Great Britain -
Wednesday April 9th, 2025 - Round-Robin Day 1 Results (GMT +1) 13:00 Kazakhstan 4 - 2 South Korea 16:30 Slovenia 0 - 12 Italy 20:00 Great Britain 0 - 3 Latvia Provisional Standing After Day 1: 1. 3 ------------------ 2. 3 3. 3 4. 0 5. 0 ------------------ 6. 0
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By Olympicsnell · Posted
is this the right place to ask how on earth do you get to cortina d'ampezzo without having to drive? Are they building a train station there at all? wanting to book tickets for curling but it looks like too much effort if im honest
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Posted
Thing is, I'm not sure he's just a sprinter, though clearly he's riding as one in Catalonia - he broke the world junior record in the individual pursuit on the track, and he was a national champion in the stayers derny class.
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