[mpjmcevoy 362]

  On 9/4/2024 at 6:47 PM, Grassmarket said:

Well, that's unblocked the sink a bit!  

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Great result for Sammi, and great effort from Chan in the LJ - feeling much better about the athletics suddenly. And swimming has already pulled its weight, all these lovely silvers are gravy. Very happy with the Fencing, we have a decent shot at the gold in MC1 in the table tennis. I still think we might struggle to hit 100, but I'm oddly not that bothered - we're still doing brilliantly despite a fair few tough luck stories and a bit of a transitional feel in some sports (athletics, cycling and triathlon). WE've finished 2nd overall in every games for ages bar, bizarrely enough, London where we went as low as 3rd - I can't see us finishing below 3rd here at worst.

 

And perhaps as importantly, as a big fan of this event, the actual 'sport' has been better than ever - so many genuinely competitive events, so much sklll upgrade - some of the archery was simply astonishing, for example. Almost all the team sports comps have been really good -  wheelchair rugby was fantastic, as is the men's basketball, the goalball and the ever eccentric yet utterly wonderful blind football, where the close control skills would put many an able bodied sighted player to shame - the 'fat ronaldo' argentinian in particular is a god. so many track races have been close, so many swim races have had competition to the final metres, the track and road racing. The women's C4 triathlon was absolutely fantastic.

[mpjmcevoy 362]

  On 9/4/2024 at 1:58 PM, Grassmarket said:

Not such a great afternoon, but silver for Sophie Unwin & bronze for Laura Fachie in the Blind tandem TT.  

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Not a single male medal in the road time trials. Suspect they may do  a little better in the road races. The factored C1-2-3 racing was a little unfortunate here for GBR, as the individual C1, C2 and C3s was a better scenario for them. Results pretty much in line with 2023 World otherwise, including Katie George Dunlevey getting a gold on the board for Ireland.

 

Beginning to wonder if the 100 target will be reached; the equestrians, cyclists are simply not the dominant forces of old, and Athletics is in a funk by the look of it. The Swimmers have performed wonders, but the remaining  timetable feels a bit light - that said, what's already been won is a perfectly respectable haul, just feels like the Olympic vibe is repeating itself - fast start, some near misses, lots of strong attempts, but maybe a bit of a fade coming at the end.

[mpjmcevoy 362]

  On 9/2/2024 at 4:41 PM, Grassmarket said:

Wow, Ellie Challis, that was just so incredible!  Went like a tiny steam engine.  

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It's all getting...Well, it's getting a bit silly now. I expected gBR to hold their own in track cycling, they did, despite leaving possibly two golds on the track. 2 golds in taekwondo was doable. We knew the rowers were ace, and triathlon would bring home some metal.

 

But the swimming, Jesus h Nora, the swimming! The swimming medal table actually makes me giggle slightly hysterically! Super delighted for, well, all of em, but especially Fiddes who has been a bit of an npc in the wake of the Firth-Applegate rivalry, and looked  like she might suffer the same fate with new generation. And yet, and yet, she's now an individual paralympic champion!

 

Now if only the track and fieldies could come to the party!

 

Bear in mind we still have Canoe, equestrian, road cycling to open up their accounts....

[mpjmcevoy 362]

  On 8/29/2024 at 3:09 PM, Grassmarket said:

 girl was holding back, so Silver & our first medal.

 

Sadly Kadeena Cox had a disaster of a start and ruled rider error, so no medal chance.

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She was visibly shaking in the gate, and I don't think it was nerves. She had a very serious MS relapse this year on top of her other injuries, and this looked connected, like the pretty strong morning effort took too much out of her ability to control her symptoms - particularly the way she had to be helped off the track - it didn't look like a collision injury, it looked like she was ill, unsteady.

 

Kadeena used to get grief from the 'are you really disabled?" mob, because she is clearly such a strong natural athlete. Today was a sad but very useful reminder of the battles Kadeena actually faces, as do so many other paraathletes, and which they so oten seem to conquer - one can forget a fair part of their lives is not conquering, but surviving, and that's heroic too. And it puts in perspective the extraordinary success of the Neilsen twins.

 

Pretty sure Groot would have preferred to face a fit Kadeena (and a firing on all cylinders Murray for that matter) - given the longevity of para careers, I'm pretty hopeful she'll get that chance in LA. Hopefully the track program will expand a little too, as the Worlds showed you can absolutely do scratch, points, sprint and omniu style events with para riders (tandem match sprint is arguably more exciting than Olympic match sprint because the co-orination of effort is so extraordinary)

[mpjmcevoy 362]

  On 8/22/2024 at 8:15 PM, TeamGB said:

That does make more sense. 

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I think it's both - a woman C4 is treated a bit like a man C3 for points purposes, which is one reason Cox represented such a valuable addition to the squad.