Rafa Maciel

The qualification window for the World Athletics Relays closed yesterday and GB have qualified for all 5 relays. I've split this out from the broader athletics thread as I think there will be plenty to talk about both ahead of and during the event.

I am sure at some point over the next few days a certain poster will be online saying that GB will not be sending a team to World Relays because of budget constraints at UK Athletics. I sincerely encourage you to ignore him.

With the Swimming Champs done, I've got time to look at some of the reporting ahead of the Olympics as media outlets begin to consider medal prospects. These are the predicted athletics medalists (track only) from Pulse Sports - a Kenyan media outlet. Please don't shoot the messenger - this isn't an endorsement of their prediction. I share it purely for information and discussion. Men's 100m: Noah Lyles Ferdinand Omanyala Letsile Tebogo Men's 200m: Noah Lyles Letsile Tebogo Zharnel Hughes Men's 400m: Steven Gardiner Antonio Watson Muzala Samukonga Men's 800m: Emmanuel Wanyonyi Marco Arop Emmanuel Korir Men's 1500m: Jakob Ingebrigtsen Josh Kerr Yared Nuguse Men's 5000m: Jakob Ingebrigtsen Jacob Krop Yomif Kejelcha Men's 10000m: Joshua Cheptegei Jacob Kiplimo Daniel Simiu Men's 3000m Steeple: Soufiane El Bakkali Lamecha Girma Simon Koech Men's 110m Hurdles: Grant Holloway Hansle Parchment Rasheed Broadbell Men's 400m Hurdles: Karsten Warholm Rai Benjamin Alison Dos Santos Men's Marathon: Benson Kipruto Sisay Lemma Eliud Kipchoge Women's 100m: Sha'Carri Richardson Elaine Thompson-Herah Shelly-Anne Fraser-Pryce Women's 200m: Shericka Jackson Elaine Thompson-Herah Gabby Thomas Women's 400m: Shaunae Miller-Uibo Marileidy Paulino Salwa Eid Naser Women's 800m: Mary Moraa Aithing Mu Keely Hodgkinson Women's 1500m: Faith Kipyegon Women's 5000m: Faith Kipyegon Beatrice Chebet Letesenbet Gidey Women's 10000m: Gudaf Tsegay Letesenbet Gidey Sifan Hassan Women's 3000m Steeple: Beatrice Chepkoech Winifred Yavi Faith Cherotich Men's 110m Hurdles: Tobi Amusan Deveyne Charlton Cyrena Samba-Mayela Men's 400m Hurdles: Femke Bol Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone Rushell Clayton Women's Marathon: Tigst Assefa Peres Jepchirchir Amane Beriso

Aquatics GB have signed a 5 year deal with the London Aquatics centre to host the GB championships through to the Olympic Trials for LA '28. A great decision from them given how well the event has gone this year. Hopefully they will also be able to sign ongoing deals with BBC and Channel 4 to provide coverage of the event - although it would be even better if the BBC showed it on an actual channel rather than just online or on iPlayer.

Men's qualifying in Keqiao cancelled due to the weather and all of the men will be advanced to the final. Before the weather set in, Toby Roberts was in a great position having completed 4 of the 5 obstacles - all in a flash effort. I'm not sure whether that is a sign of great form or whether the routes were not as difficult as they could have been (3 other athletes had completed all 4 obstacles in flash efforts and there were flashes recorded for multiple climbers. Max Milne had completed 2 boulders - both in flash attempts. Jack Macdougal completed the first boulder and managed to top in 6 efforts. Dayan Akhtar didn't have a chance to get his competition started.

First IFSC World Cup in Keqiao thrown into a bit of chaos as they have been forced to cancel the men's qualifying competition due to the weather. Everyone is advanced to the semi-finals and then there will be a 20 person final. Not entirely sure that the route setters did a great job today - I don't think I've ever seen a competition where there were so many flash runs. In the women's competition, Janja Garnbret, Nonaka Miho and Oceania Mackenzie all finished with 5 flashes.

Heads up for some athletes in action this week at the Oklahoma Throws Series World Invitational Women's Shot Put: Divine Oladipo Women's Discus: Jade Lally Kirsty Law Men's Discus: Lawrence Okoyo Nick Percy Dan Greaves This is the same location that Nick Percy got his Olympic Qualifying distance this weekend so hopefully the others in the team can find the same form.

Setting this one up early as we should have a squad announcement made in the next week or so.

Great qualifying result for McNeice as she managed 4 tops/5 zones to safely makes it through to the semi-final in 4th place. It wasn't such a good day Thompson-Smith as finished down in 41st with just 1 top/4 zones and exits the competition.

Fresh from his Olympic qualifying distance of 67.73 at the Oklahoma Throws event yesterday, Nick Percy returned for the second day of competition and posted a best of 63.87m. In the same competition, Dan Greaves racked up 3 fouls but did achieve a pretty solid season's opener of 58.48m - that's just 40cm short of his result from all of last year. In the women's competition, Jade Lally improved her season's best to 57.23m.

Bryony Page successfully defends her title at the European Trampoline Championships. She took the title with a score of 55.630 which is down 1.2 points on what she achieved at the World Champs last year. Izzy Longhurst qualified for the final and finished in 7th place with 52.010, down around 2.5 points on her World Champs score. In the men's individual, it wasn't a great competition for the Brits with all three making early mistakes. Paris bound Zak Perzamanos finished 23rd.

The 2024 Sport Climbing season kicks off in earnest tomorrow with the IFSC Boulder World Cup meet taking place in Keqiao and there are plenty of Brits in action on the boulders. Men: Toby Roberts - interesting to see if he's been able to hold (or ideally improve) his form over the off season. Max Milne - (Qualified for OQS) Jack MacDougall - (Qualified for OQS) Dayan Akhtar Women: Molly Thompson-Smith - (Qualified for the OQS) Was injured last year and didn't do huge amount of boulder work so will be good to see her do well here. Erin McNeice - (Qualified for the OQS)

BMX Racing Olympic Test Event Men's Elite: 1.) Ross Cullen 2.) Arthur Pillard 3.) Jeremy Rencurel Women's Elite: 1.) Bethany Shriever 2.) Zoe Claessens 3.) Nadine Aeberhard

Don't get too excited folks.... but did the double at the Olympic BMX Racing Test Event! Ross Cullen took the men's race whilst Bethany Shriever took the women's.

Good point with Miller - I'd based it on the Po10 data from 2023 and 2024 and Miller hadn't competed so he didn't make the list. I'm not sure what the story is with him - can't see if he's planning on competing this year or not, but if he posts a distance of mid 70s, then I'll add him in. Likewise also keeping an eye on Taylor Campbell - he's been out for ages but his social media posts suggest he's heading back to competition this year. Again, if he can post a mid 70s then he'll make the cut for the list. On the juniors, if the performance justifies it, they can be added to the list - although I do find them more difficult to track. Domestic meets are not great for posting their results and navigating the US collegiate system is an absolute nightmare.

With the outdoor season having kicked off and the "current form" window for UK Athletics now open, I thought I'd share this for those who are interested. This is the athlete long-list that I think our ultimate Olympic squad will come from. Needless to say, I don't think all or even the majority of them will be selected and some of them may not even compete this year due to injury, but these are the athletes whose performances I am going to try and track over the next few weeks/months heading into trials (although I am always happy to accommodate a few breakout performances). Athletics 24.xlsx

Selected athletes should be notified by Thursday I think

I don't think there is any risk for Robinson in going in the pool - probably no different to a training swim for him - so if he wants to do double up then there shouldn't be any issue.

I think that's where Okara comes in as cover - using her for the heats will gives Hopkin a bit more slack in her schedule.

I'd say the 4x100 will get the OK to go - Anderson was coming in having done little sprint prep and they got a new national record in Fukuoka. I am not as confident that the medley goes. Realistically, they're unlikely to medal in the event so that will count against them. However, the collective time posted this week is a second faster than they got in Fukuoka and a half a second faster than they managed in Tokyo. This is going to come down to whether the selectors believe that they can get into the final come Paris.

That's thrown the cat amongst the pigeons. Think the selectors get out of jail card is Freya Anderson and whether they are willing to make allowances for her illness.

You're responding to his clickbait All that does is encourage him.

Conversely, for me I think this is the swim that gets Hanlon on to the team. She only had the OCT for the 200 breast but in the 100 she got the OQT.

Oh.... that 100 breast was slower than I was expecting. Still think both Evans and Hanlon get selected but it means we are needing a 00:52.69 in the 100 Free to confirm the medley relay

That 800m result takes away one potential complication for the selectors - despite great performances, Blocksidge hasn't got the OQT in any of her events so I think we can probably all agree that she won't be on the team for Paris. Her focus for this year will be the European juniors but I don't think it will be long before she's on the squad for Worlds though. Going forward though, I kind of hope that she drops the 200 free and the 400 IM and focuses on the longer freestyle events.