Rafa Maciel

Women's Team Sprint: 1.) 2.) 3.) Reasoning: Although not currently in a qualifying position, I think ultimately Canada will dislodge France after the last couple of qualifying events are completed. Based on the team's average times taken across the '23 season and the '24 qualifying events completed to date, GB and Germany are clearly ahead of the rest of the field. GB have generally come out on top in qualifying - the exceptions being the 2 continental championships - but I don't see any reason they wouldn't do so again in Paris. China and Netherlands have managed to put a bit of distance over the rest of the field and whilst China currently have the edge, the Dutch team have been closing the gap and could establish themselves as the 3rd ranked team by the time we get to Paris. For the rest of the field, there's not a huge difference in their average times. I am giving the nod to Canada and New Zealand because I think they have the potential to make the most progress before Paris. Mexico is probably the weakest team in the field - their position in the rankings list is flattered by their win in Milton last year against a weakened field. In the head-to-heads in Round 1, there could be a surprise in the first 2 heats, but nothing I've seen in current form suggests that is really likely. In the medal races, much as I would like to call it for GB, I think the head-to-head currently favours Germany. I've posted elsewhere that I think the key to a GB win will be with Sophie Capewell as the second-line rider - if she can hand over to Finucane within 0.2 seconds, then the GB team would be favourite for the title. In the bronze final, the head-to-head would be in favour of China - they came out on top in Glasgow at the worlds and repeated that in Hong Kong last week.

Current track cycling quota projections By NOC after the Nations Cup II event in Hong Kong: There are still 2 ranking events left in the qualifying window: 1.) 2024 PanAmerican Championships - Carson (3-Apr - 7-Apr) 2.) Nations Cup III - Milton : (12-Apr - 14-Apr)

The Scottish men are current world champions and 3-time European champions whilst the mixed doubles pairing of Dodds and Mouat were 5th in most recent world champs. I'd also point out that Eve Muirhead won precisely 0 world medals in the Beijing Olympic cycle ... but yeah sure, Scottish curling is going so far backwards.

The FEI have confirmed the ground jury for the Dressage competition in Paris: Raphael Saleh (President) Henning Lehrmann Isabel Wessels Mariette Sanders Magnus Ringmark Michael Osinski Susanne Baarup Based on previous experience, I expect the inclusion of Wessels to be met with a degree of disgust and will give rise to plenty of conspiracy theories when it comes to scoring of the riders.

IFSC European Cup: Speed - Lublin Men's Elite: 1.) Gian Luca Zodda - 5.29sec 2.) Luca Robbiati - Fall 3.) Marcin Dzienski - 5.29sec Women's Elite: 1.) Franziska Ritter - 6.84sec 2.) Beatrice Colli - 7.03sec 3.) Aleksandra Miroslaw - 6.38sec

Oceania Triathlon Sprint Championship - Davenport Men's Elite: 1.) Dylan McCullough 2.) Luke Willian 3.) Jacob Birtwhistle Women's Elite: 1.) Jaz Hedgeland 2.) Brea Roderick 3.) Tara Sosinski Mixed Relay: 1.) Australia I (Luke Willian / Tara Sosinski / Brandon Copeland / Jaz Hedgeland) 2.) New Zealand I (Saxon Morgan / Brea Roderick / Trent Thorpe / Eva Goodisson) 3.) Australia III (Lachlan Jones / Charlotte McShane / Brayden Mercer / Jessica Ewart-Mctigue)

Things going from bad to worse for in the curling - after losing to , they've been beaten by , and they are currently getting trounced by . I know Muirhead had to go through the last chance qualifying, but if we have to go through that route again this time, I wouldn't have any confidence that Morrison can deliver an Olympic quota.

If you genuinely believe that USA Track and Field and the other national federations are going to allow themselves be told by IAAF who they have to take to major championships, then I have a bridge over the river Thames for sale. Honestly, it's a very good price and I have all the paperwork necessary to prove ownership.

Neither the IOC nor the international federations can compel a National Olympic Committee to select an athlete and that will not change - no matter how many times you predict it.

Caudrey winning gold would certainly propel her as the face of GB Athletics but I think the most satisfying and perhaps higher profile win would be for either Kerr or Wightman to beat Ingebrigtsen in the 1500m given he has shown that he is such a bad loser

Athletics weekly have a good write up on likely state of GB squad for Paris ahead of the outdoor season kicking off. Nice to see that they have avoided the temptation of predicting golds for the likes of Caudery, Kerr and Hodgkinson this early in the season - will be interesting to see if they develop this further as we get closer to the Games. Paris 2024 podium predictions - AW (athleticsweekly.com)

It may not be her opinion on flying that is the problem and may instead be parental influence. Abbie Donnelly and Calum Johnson win Inter-Counties crowns - AW (athleticsweekly.com) She's quoted in the Under-20 women's section as saying "My dad doesn't want me to fly" - whilst also apparently confirming that when she turns 18, she will be accepting places on travelling squads.

Innes Fitzgerald has rejected the offer of place on the World Champs squad, opting instead to focus on her A-Level studies.

I don't think anyone has been discounting either Andrews or Bayona - we're simply saying that based on past experience, the keirin is the most unpredictable event in track cycling for the sprinters and there is no clear medal favourite. From my perspective, I wouldn't be reading too much into the results of the TCL - it took place at a time when the riders were still in heavy training and the format differences doesn't necessarily give a good read across to what will happen in Paris.

To be fair I think we've all followed every major track cycling event in the last 14 months . I don't think @heywooduis too far out by saying there's 10-15 riders with significant medal chances - after all, all that means is that anyone who gets themselves into a semi-final is in with a medal shout. And for what it's worth, here's my take on the 10-15 genuine medal chances and why I think they are in the mix: Emma Finucane & Katy Marchant - Finucane is European silver medalist, won the event in HK and is the cyclist probably in the best form whilst Marchant took silver in Adelaide. Could even make an argument in favour of Sophie Capewell. Emma Hinze & Lea Friedrich - Hinze took silver in Hong Kong whilst Friedrich is European Champions, was 8th in Hong Kong and 6th in Adelaide. Mina Sato - Champion in Adelaide and 5th in Hong Kong. Mathilde Gros - 4th in the Europeans, 7th in Adelaide and 6th in Hong Kong - will also have home town advantage and unlikely to have the additional 3 rides from team sprint. Hetty van de Wouw & Steffie van der Peet - van de Wouw was bronze medalist at Europeans and 4th at Worlds in Glasgow whilst van der Peet made the small final in Hong Kong and in Glasgow. Ellesse Andrews - '23 World Champ and UCI TCL Champion. Will be interesting to see how she performs on her return from injury. Nicky Degrendele - 5th at the Europeans, 4th in Hong Kong and made the small final in Adelaide. Martha Bayona - silver medalist at last year's world champs and made the small final in Adelaide. Lauriane Genest - silver medalist at '23 PanAm champs and bronze medalist in Adelaide. That's a fairly easy list of 12 names and there are more besides.

I just hope that we are able to keep both of them in the sport. We seem to have quite a few young athletes that were touted as the next big name for British athletics only for them to struggle to make the breakthrough into the senior ranks, get injured and ultimately disappear without a trace. The domestic competition level is pretty tough across a fair few events now and it is pushing everyone involved to raise their game - just a shame that there doesn't seem to be much of a high-class domestic circuit for the public to be able to enjoy these match-ups.

You really are becoming increasingly tiresome now.

curling hits a new low - beaten 8-6 by Really think it is time to give Rebecca Morrison a rest and promote Jen Dodds to skip.

Watching the coverage is torturous - I'm not sure who in British Gymnastics made the decision to use Mensah and Francis-Reid as the presenters, but it has to be one of the most ill-judged decisions they are likely to make in their career. Neither of them seemed to know what was happening and Mensah prefaced pretty much every sentence with "indeed, indeed"

Clean sweep for Finucane as she easily takes the keirin title.

Megan Keith gets the Olympic qualifying standard - in her 10000m debut - after finishing 4th and clocking a time of 30:36.84. She was 1 of only 4 women who made the Olympic standard in the race. For the other British women, Jess Warner Judd dropped out around 6500 mark whilst Amy Eloise Neale finished 18th with a time of 31:56.01. On the men's side, all the Brits ended up with new PBs but ultimately came up short of the 27:00.00 Olympic standard. Patrick Dever was the top Brit finishing in 10th place and knocked15 seconds off his time to cross the line in 27:08.81 - apparently this is the second fastest British time behind Mo Farah. Dever already has the standard for 5000m so will be interesting to see if he tries to double up. Charlie Hicks set a new PB of 27:33.58 - around 7 seconds quicker than his previous best set in 2022 and around 24 seconds faster than he managed in the whole of 2023. Jack Rowe finished with 27:54.55 - around 25 seconds faster than his previous best.

women win their first round robin match at the curling world championships, coming out on the right side of a 6-4 scoreline against Next up, tomorrow.

As you say, it's difficult to gauge where everyone is in their recovery - obviously it is personal and private, but I do think British Gymnastics are missing in action in terms of providing any kind of update. From what I can gather: Jessica Gadirova - Should now be in week 14/15 of post-op rehab. From videos posted on Instagram she's still doing strength and conditioning work. Unlikely to be back in time for consideration for Paris. Jennifer Gadirova - She was back in training but had ended up having arthroscopy on her ankle about 9-10 weeks ago. She hasn't posted much about her recovery other than a post at the end of February confirming she hadn't been cleared for a return to training and she is not expecting to be back for the upcoming world cups. Hasn't competed in any of the DSEs so far so difficult to see how she can get back on to the team. Alice Kinsella - She was due to take part in the British Champs this weekend but withdrew. From a twitter post, it looks like an arm injury took her out of the competition but no indication of whether it is serious or not. Poppy Strickler - Back and hip injury at the start of the year so difficult to see her being in contention for the squad.

The men's short list: This is an absolute 'mare of a list - only 3 of the top 6 are on GB Archery's podium squad. James Woodgate and Monty Orton were both in the World Championship team last year (and were GB's highest placed qualifiers) but have failed to make the cut for selection. Think we can say goodbye to team quota for the men unfortunately.

The women's team: No real surprises - Pitman and Healey are world class (if a little inconsistent). No place for Jaspreet Sagoo though which is disappointing given she was part of the gold medal winning team from last year's European Games.