Rafa Maciel

Question for the sane and reasonable members of the group - you know who you are. If Eva Okaro gets selected for the squad - either in the 100m free individual or, as a member of the 4x100 free relay squad, would the selectors nominate her to swim the 50 free at the Europeans to see if she can get the OQT of 24.70? She was only 0.26 seconds short this evening, dropping her PB from 25.18 set earlier in the year. The champs are in Belgrade so not exactly a taxing journey and I don't think racing that one event would impede her Olympic prep in any way. The selection policy does say that anyone selected for Paris will not be nominated for Belgrade, but I can't see what they would have to lose by giving her the chance to go for a qualifying time for the 50.

So, at the half-way stage of the champs, I reckon we're at 18 tickets allocated with 2 more likely (Cox/Wilby) and 2 sitting on the cusp (Hanlon/Bird). Tomorrow, I think we will allocate another 3 quotas - 2 in the 100m Butterfly (Peters & Guy) and 1 in the 200m Backstroke (Osrin). Shanahan (200 back), Dean (200 IM) and Scott (200 IM) should also get the times for their respective events but already have spots on the team.

Just to be clear on the point I was making with this was the suggestion that Foster (and others have made) was that by finishing in the top 6 in this event, you would likely be selected as relay cover but I don't think that will be the case - for example I can't see Cumberlidge being selected. At the moment, I think it is looking very unlikely that we will be taking anyone purely as relay cover - they will rely instead on the people who have qualified for the individual events.

Robinson is already on the team through his open water quota so unlike the other swimmers in the list, he isn't relying on the selectors discretion to make the actual team. Only question is whether he will be doubling up in pool/open water.

Thinking of the relay - does anyone know if GB Aquatics do relay training? I think the athletics squads have specific training sessions dedicated to the relays but can't recall them ever being mentioned in relation to swimming

"They're going to take 5 or 6 people for the relay" Mark Foster must know that's just not going to happen under the current selection policy.

First major complaint about these champs - I am getting a little bit sick of the whole "you've put yourself in a great position in front of those selectors" chat from the presenter. Really hope that before the end of the champs, one of the swimmers breaks ranks and responds by saying "well I've done the time they asked for, so they bloody well better select me!"

Robinson is already qualified in open water so he's already on the team so doesn't count for a pool quota. I could be wrong, but I think that the swimmers only need to get the BST in a single event to get them on the team but then they can entered into any event where they have the OQT. So that would mean that Robinson's time tonight makes him eligible for the 1500m in Paris despite being outside the BST.

I do wonder how badly you have to be playing to lose a 6 in an end.

2024 PanAmerican Track Cycling Championships Women's Team Sprint: 1.) Mexico 2.) Canada 3.) USA -------------------- 4.) Colombia 5.) Brazil Adjusted Olympic Rankings: 1.) Great Britain - 7500(Q) 2.) China - 7470 (Q) 3.) Germany - 6960 (Q) 4.) Mexico - 6172.50 (Q) 5.) Poland - 5868.75 (Q) 6.) New Zealand - 5790 (Q) 7.) Netherlands - 5407.5 (Q) 8.) France - 5403.75 ------------------------------------- 9.) Canada - 4852.50 Realistically, there is only 1 place left in the women's team sprint competition. have a NC event in hand so providing they don't crash out in Milton, they are likely to move into a top 4/top 5 position. The battle for the last quota comes down to France v's Canada. Canada are in the stronger position as they have a NC event in hand. They are currently just over 550 points behind France so Canada need to finish at least 9th in order to overtake France. France can improve their position if they can finish 6th or higher and if they do, Canada needs to be no worse than 2 places behind them to secure the quota. There's no GB in the line up for Milton and Germany are not sending their strongest team so we should see a win for either China or Netherlands but behind them, everyone will have a chance to get on the podium.

2024 PanAmerican Track Cycling Championships Men's Team Sprint: 1.) Colombia 2.) Canada 3.) USA -------------------- 4.) Argentina 5.) Mexico 6.) Brazil 7.) Trinidad & Tobago Adjusted Olympic Rankings: 1.) Australia - 8175 (Q) 2.) Japan - 6832.50 (Q) 3.) Netherlands - 6540 (Q) 4.) Great Britain - 6401.25 (Q) 5.) China - 6337.50 (Q) 6.) France - 5887.5 (Q) 7.) Germany - 5733.75 (Q) 8.) Czechia - 4552.50 ------------------------------------- 9.) Poland - 4530 10.) Canada - 4507.50 The Team Sprint in Milton is going to be tasty. Whoever finishes higher out of Poland or Canada gets the final quota. So far in the qualifying window, Poland have outperformed Canada 3-1 but, the event where Canada came out on top was Milton last year. The start lists for Milton this year are stronger than we saw in 2023 so I don't expect Canada to replicate their 4th place finish from last year. Overall, I think it is advantage for the final quota.

Women's team for European Championships: Ondine Achampong Alice Kinsella Becky Downie Ruby Evans Georgia-Mae Fenton Do feel that Fenton can count herself fortunate to be included given she didn't have a great English or British champs. She was however solid in Antalya at the weekend so hopefully she can have a run of consistency going into the Olympics.

Surely this must be a delayed April Fools......right? Olympics-Pole dancers eyeing Games participation, but soul of sport at risk (msn.com)

I don't think Osrin has the OQT, so even if she gets a quota through the 200m, she wouldn't be eligible for the individual 100m.

Don't get me wrong - it's great to see her back in the pool, but she looked so good in the morning that I was hoping for her to get closer to 59.5 which is what she'll likely need to get into the final in Paris. Like you my disappointment was predominantly with Cox's time. Not getting the OQT never mind the BST probably gives us the first challenging decision for the selectors - do they give Cox the nod or does Medi Harris get the individual spot given she's going with the relay already?

At the end of day 2: Guaranteed Quotas: Adam Peaty - 100m Breast Oliver Morgan - 100m Back Freya Colbert - 200m Free Kathleen Dawson - 100m Back Keanna Macinnes - 200m Butterfly Abbie Wood - 200m Free / 4x200m Free Virtually Guaranteed Quota: Jonathon Marshall - 100m Back Laura Stephens - 200m Butterfly Relay Quotas: Medi Harris - 4x200m Free Lucy Hope - 4x200m Free Likely to Get Quota for Relay Cover: James Wilby - 100m Breast Lauren Cox - 100m Back Relying on Selectors Discretion (Achieved OQT but not BST) Kieran Bird - 400m Free Ignoring Kieran Bird for now as we've discussed his situation a fair bit already, I think the most at risk swimmer in that list would be Lauren Cox. Not only did she not get the BST in the final, she didn't get the OQT either. Given that Medi Harris is already going through the relay, the selectors could opt to give Harris the second spot in the individual.

That time is also under the BST

Oh that's the first real disappointment of the meet. Great that Dawson gets the spot on the team but her time wasn't great given what she put in in the heats - had hoped she'd get under 59.5. I keep changing my mind on whether the medley relay is going to hit the nomination time. I also expected Lauren Cox to get the time so for her not to break a minute is a blow. I still think she'll get a place on the squad though.

Big sigh of relief for in the 8th end picking up a 3 and perhaps, just perhaps beginning to switch momentum in their favour. But whatever happens, have been pretty impressed by this team.

That's embarrassing - 2 lane rope breaks in the space of 2 days

Close from Hanlon in the 200m Breast - importantly she got the OQT - so assuming she gets the standard for the 100m Breast, British Swimming would also enter her for the 200 in Paris.

Hmmm.... really struggling to find their best form against . Was not expecting them to be trailing going into the half-way break.

Great swim for Blocksidge - unfortunately not within the WA time or the BST and unlike a lot of the juniors, not a new PB - but her 6:13.39 would still have been enough for a top-12 finish at last year's world champs which is mightily impressive for a 14 year old. In the end though, perhaps there was just too much pressure on her tonight.

Think I have been able to answer my first question - checking back on the mountain bike test event from last year and no points were offered so my working assumption will be that there will be no ranking points this week. Still not found any entry data or source for results.....

I think the Olympic Test event for BMX Racing kicks off this week. Anyone know if it carries ranking points? Would also appreciate any suggestion of where live results might be available?