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The CONCACAF Under-20 Championship is in full swing now and the Round of 16 is over. With the two finalists qualifying for the Olympics, this is the sole Paris 2024 qualifying competition in men's football for North Americans. Costa Rica faced Trinidad and Tobago at Estadio Yankel Rosenthal. A handball by Jahiem Joseph in the box gave Costa Rica the chance to make the perfect start and Josimar Alcócer stepped up to do exactly that. Costa Rica were the dominant side and added to their lead in the second half with a tap-in from Shawn Johnson. A rebound from Dorian Rodríguez made it three, before the same player latched onto a through ball for 4-0. Trinidad and Tobago were heading out but had time for one positive moment, with Molik Khan putting in the consolation. Still, an impressive performance by Costa Rica and they are through to the quarter-finals. Cuba met Panama at the Estadio Nacional. Both teams had chances in the first half but it remained a somewhat tetchy affair. And the only goal fit the contest: a scrappy goal forced in by Carlos Rivera to give Panama the win. It was a disappointment for Cuba who had been impressive in the tournament up to this point but will play no further part. Later at the Yankel Rosenthal, hosts Honduras took on Curaçao. And it didn't take long for the home side to take the lead, with Marco Aceituno latching onto a sloppy backpass. But Curaçao fought back, with Rayvian Job latching onto a "route one" ball over the top and equalising in prolific fashion. That was as good as it got for the qualifiers though, with Honduras' Geremy Rodas heading home a corner in first-half injury time and Odin Ramos heading home a cross after the break. There was time for one more Honduras goal when Nigel Marengo fouled Jefryn Macías in the box and Miguel Carrasco fired it into the top corner for a 4-1 victory. Honduras have looked impressive all tournament and will be relishing a quarterfinal against Panama. The final game of the day took place at the Estadio Nacional with the US taking on Nicaragua. The Stars and Stripes were dominant the whole game but Nicaragua's dominance was providing a large amount of frustration. It took until first half injury time for Quinn Sullivan to head them in front, but then it became much simpler. Kurt Thomas dragged Sullivan down in the box and Diego Luna scored the penalty before Sullivan tucked in a low cross for his second and the USA's third. A cross was deflected by Dylan Pineda into his own goal before Jalen Neal tucked in a rebound to give the US a 5-0 win. The Americans have looked brilliant this tournament but Costa Rica will be a tough challenge in the quarters. On the second day of competition Guatemala faced Canada in the first game at the Estadio Nacional. But nothing could separate the two sides after ninety minutes, with both teams missing a penalty in the first half but having precious little in terms of other chances. In extra-time, Canada did draw first blood, with Jeshua Urizar handling it in the box and Kamron Habibullah firing it into the bottom corner. In the 119th minute, Figo Montaro headed home, and although it was initially disallowed, VAR showed that it was onside and the game headed to penalties. With the first set of penalties converted by Gabriel Pellegrino and Carlos Santos, Kwasi Poku skied his penalty to give Guatemala the initiative, and Urizar did just that. Keesean Ferdinand levelled for Canada but Johnathan Franco put Guatemala back in front. Justin Smith's panenka then hit the bar to give Jefrey Bantes the chance to put Guatemala through, but he rolled it wide. Habibullah had to score to keep Canada in it, and did just that, so it was down to Omar Villagrán to avoid a sudden death. And he smashed it in to send Guatemala through to the quarterfinals. At the Estadio Olímpico, Haiti took on Jamaica in a bizarre game. Jahmari Clarke gave Jamaica the lead early on taking advantage of some eccentric goalkeeping and things got worse for Haiti when Fernando Ciceron's bizarre high-footed challenge on Chad James earned him a red card. A header from Steevenson Jeudy gave Haiti an equaliser and a lifeline, but when Duckens Pierre fouled Tyler Roberts that was enough for his second yellow card and Haiti were down to nine men. It was only a matter of time before Jamaica got the winner at that point and more unconvincing goalkeeping was to blame with Tarick Ximines poking home an open goal from a corner to secure a 2-1 win for the young Reggae Boyz. A fascinating encounter between El Salvador and the Dominican Republic took place at the Estadio Nacional. The qualifiers took an early lead when Israel Boatwrighit's cross went over the goalkeeper and found its way in, but El Salvador soon equalised when Mayer Gil converted a cross. However, Anyelo Gomez soon scored a rebound to put the Dominicans ahead again. El Salvador were struggling to get back into the game but when Keffler Martes brought down Jonathan Esquivel in the box Gil converted the VAR-awarded penalty to equalise, before Ronald Arévalo tapped home just before half-time to give El Salvador the lead for the first time. But just after half time, Ángel Montes De Oca managed to squeeze home a goal and it was 3-3. Boatwrighit went from hero to zero by handling a cross in the box and Esquivel converted the penalty to put El Salvador back in front, but Montes De Oca soon came forward and fired in an equaliser. And the nerves began to show when El Salvador's Alexander Romero brought down the rushing Edison Azcona in the box and Azcona got up and fired in the winner, and despite their best efforts and a disallowed goal, El Salvador had no response. The remarkable result: El Salvador 4-5 Dominican Republic, and the winners play Jamaica in the quarterfinal. In the final game at the Olímpico Mexico took on Puerto Rico in a one-sided affair. A lovely solo run from Fidel Ambriz gave El Tri a lead they would never relinquish, and Christian Torres fired off the post for two. Esteban Lozano made it three after half-time with a header, before another header from Salvador Mariscal made it four. The ball then broke kindly for Isaías Violante in the box and he took full advantage, before Jesús Hernández rounded out a 6-0 win with another headed effort. They play Guatemala in the quarters. The quarterfinals will take place on Tuesday at Estadio Morazán with the US against Costa Rica and Panama playing Honduras, and on Wednesday at Estadio Olímpico Metropolitano with the Dominican Republic taking on Jamaica and Guatemala facing Mexico. The winners will qualify for next years FIFA U-20 World Cup in Indonesia, and will be one game away from the Olympics, with the losers having no recourse for the Paris Games. Patrick Green Writer, Totallympics News

Image: World Triathlon A stunning performance from Georgia Taylor-Brown in the 2022 World Triathlon Mixed Relay Championships has yielded Great Britain the first non-host quota of the Paris 2024 Olympic cycle. The winner of the event were to win two quota spots for each gender, automatically entering the winner into the Mixed Relay event in Paris. France, the hosts of the Games, already had these quotas, so if they were to win the race the places would instead go to the runner-up. With at most three athletes per gender qualifying for the individual events per NOC, all NOCs with at least two per gender will automatically enter the mixed relay. There are also eleven specific mixed relay spots, that will automatically qualify two men and two women for the Olympics, and the second of these (after the host spot) was up for grabs in Montreal, Canada on Sunday. With Belgium non-starters, sixteen teams entered the race. In the first leg, the whole field was together after the cycling portion but New Zealand's Hayden Wilde and Great Britain's Alex Yee left the field behind them during the run, just like the individual race, and were ahead going into the second leg. During the swim, Brazil, France and Australia caught up to make it a five-woman race, putting them twenty-five seconds ahead of the US in sixth. But the charge from the chasing pack was enough to slowly claw away at the leading five, and going into the final race there was a big pack. But they slowly broke away with France's Emma Lombardi being subject of a surprise challenge from Denmark's Alberte Kjaer Pedersen. But France were happy to cooperate, as they had Vincent Luis on the penultimate leg and as Denmark fell away Luis pulled twenty seconds clear at the end of his swim. With New Zealand's Tayler Reid and the American Kevin McDowell cooperating while fighting for second, Luis was still nineteen seconds clear after the cycle despite riding solo. There was a second pack of chasers: GB, Canada, Switzerland, and Denmark, but they were a further sixteen seconds back and couldn't make any inroads despite GB's newcomer Samuel Dickinson attempting a charge. Furthermore, Dickinson had a missed box ten-second penalty. Going into the final leg France were miles in front and all Cassandre Beaugrand had to do was take it home, and in fact all she did was extend her lead. But while there was no doubt who the winner would be, it was looking a tight battle for second. Summer Rappaport of the US was now eight seconds ahead of the Kiwis' Nicole Van Der Kaay, with Taylor-Brown nearly half a minute off that silver place. But a brilliant cycle let her catch them two up somehow, but that wasn't enough: she would have to find more than seconds to contend with the penalty. Van Der Kaay tried to stay with her but ran out of steam and Taylor-Brown took a clear lead. But Rappaport, who had stayed back, was a problem. It was unclear whether Taylor-Brown was clearly ahead: she had to slow down and speed up again while serving the penalty, so the penalty is in actuality more than ten seconds. But as Beaugrand crossed the line for gold, Taylor-Brown emerged just ahead of Rappaport and powered over the line for silver while the Americans got a bronze. It means that two British men and two British women will compete at the Olympics in Paris in the triathlon, which makes a mixed relay team. The British team were delighted with the performance despite being pre-race favourites. Alex Yee said he was "absolutely over the moon", while Sophie Coldwell says she was "really proud of everyone". Samuel Dickinson whose penalty nearly cost the team said that he would "buy [Taylor-Brown] some sunglasses or something" to make up for it, while Taylor-Brown joked: But Olympic qualification aside today was France's day, and they are worthy world champions. Pierre Le Corre, Emma Lombardi, Vincent Luis and Cassandre Beaugrand are a very good team and they will be relishing an Olympics in front of their home fans. The next chance for teams to qualify will be at the 2023 World event in Hamburg, Germany. The winner of that event (or more precisely, the highest-ranked finisher except for France and Great Britain) will qualify two men and two women, similar to this event. Top five times: 1. France 1:27.14 2. Great Britain 1:27.34 3. United States 1:27.44 4. New Zealand 1:27.53 5. Canada 1:29.06 Patrick Green Writer, Totallympics News