Rafa Maciel

Provisional entry lists for leg 2 of Nations Cup in Hong Kong have been released: Team_Publication_as_16.02.2024.pdf (ctfassets.net) The cliff notes: - Strong sprint squad with Richardson, Cornish, Hoffman and Glaetzer all included. - Lotte Kopecky likely looking to get in some Omnium practice. - All three members of World Champ bronze medal winning women's sprint team are taking part. Expect men's team pursuit to also take to the track - but not the same squad that competed at last year's Asian champs or the World Champs in Glasgow. - Sending a second-tier squad for men's team pursuit, but we've seen before that a Danish B-Team is still good enough to get on the podium. - Important for the women's team sprint to put in a strong showing if they want to secure the quota. Gros, Michaux and Kouame all in the entry list gives them good chance. - Women's Team Sprint will want to put their Adelaide DSQ behind them and look like they will be putting out their strongest team. - Men's pursuit team looks pretty solid - Ethan Hayter, Josh Charlton, William Perrett, William Tidball, Michael Gill are all on the start list. For men's team sprint, there is no Jack Carlin (Not sure that is a huge loss though). Instead Jo Truman, Alistair Fielding will likely be joined by Harry Ledingham-Horn or Hayden Norris. On the women's side, it's full strength for the sprint side (although Katy Marchant is also listed under trade team so not sure if she will be racing as part of GBR). Finally, looks like there is no GB squad in the women's team pursuit (or indeed in any of the endurance events). - Full strength for both of the team sprint events. - Looks like they are putting out their A-team for both men's and women's team pursuits. No place for Ellesse Andrews as she recovers from collar bone injury. - Important event for their men's team sprint hopes. This year's European bronze medalist are all back and will be looking to take advantage of the fact that there is no Canadian team taking part. A podium finish would really put the pressure on Canada going into the final stage of the competition in Milton. The event specific entry lists also available but should be take with a pinch of salt if they are anything like the entry lists that were published ahead of Adelaide: Entries_by_Event_as_16.02.2024.pdf (ctfassets.net)

He got it over the line in the end, but it should have been done in straight games. Jarvis v Kurmangaliyev will be interesting. On paper Jarvis is the higher ranked player - 183 v 212 - but it could go either way.

Draft entry lists for Edinburgh International Meet in early March have been published. As expected, there's plenty of names there - including a lot of our prospective Olympic team - but also a fair few swimmers from draft-programme.pdf (eism.org.uk)

They still think they can get out of the group stage - I'm not sure how but they think it is doable.

Japan were awarded a walkover but I think it may have been because Nigeria didn't have enough players available to compete. Quadri Aruna had withdrawn from the squad before the competition begun and Bode Abiodun was late arriving. They are however competing today against so assume they haven't withdrawn.

Don't think any of the action we've seen this week will have all that much relevance when it comes to Paris. If the guys aren't hitting the target times when we get to the British Champs in April then may have to reconsider the medal prospects but from what I've seen so far, the majority of the GB swimmers are producing faster times than they were at the same time last year which can only be viewed as a positive sign for the rest of the year.

Looks like the season kicked off in earnest this weekend: HERO Abu Dhabi - Women's Elite 1.) Rebecca Henderson 2.) Noelle Buri 3.) Martin Berta HERO Abu Dhabi - Men's Elite 1.) Ben Oliver 2.) Thomas Litscher 3.) David List Shimano Supercup Massi La Nucia - Women's Elite 1.) Pauline Ferrand Prevot 2.) Nicole Koller 3.) Savilia Blunk Shimano Supercup Massi La Nucia - Men's Elite 1.) Tom Pidcock 2.) Samuel Gaze 3.) David Valero Serrano Action continues this weekend with the Internacionales Chelva GSport Challenge.

In a sign of how relaxed the GB squad have been about these championships, I understand that Matthew Richards was still in heavy training at altitude two weeks ago. Whilst it is disappointing that he didn't make the podium, 47.82 is still half a second quicker than he was swimming at the same time last year.

Cairo marks a return to competition for Joe Fraser after sitting out 2023 with injury and illness. So far: Floor - 11.833 Pommel - 14.666 Floor score is pretty poor but that's a decent pommel routine. He'll be on the horizontal bar tomorrow.

Ross Cullen did not make a single World Cup final across 2023 and his best result was a 1st at round 4 of European Cup in April which was devoid of most of the top names. Granted he looked in decent form at Rotorua before he went off course in the semi-finals but there is nothing in his results which would suggest he could be challenging for medals without a fairly dramatic shift in performance. Am becoming increasingly aware that I am coming across as the prophet of doom when it comes to prospects, but I do try to be as balanced as possible.

In some ways I can see it as a good thing, but then again, if you are a gymnast from the likes of Fiji or Samoa, are you really going to be able to travel to Hungary to compete or is this going to be another Oceania championship which is basically v

Understand from Gymnastics New Zealand that the Oceania Championship for Rhythmic Gymnastics is taking place in conjunction with the European Championships in Hungary from 22-May.

I'd argue that the women's team pursuit should be a lot higher than 7th in terms of likely gold medalist.

Confirmed start lists for the Oceania track cycling championships: Women's Team Pursuit: - Bryony Botha / Emily Shearman / Nicole Shields / Ally Wollaston - Sally Carter / Claudia Marcks / Sophie Marr / Keira Will With the exception of Nicole Shields who is replacing Samantha Donnelly, this is the same squad that New Zealand had at the Adelaide NC last week. For Australia, their big names are back on the road so they are fielding what was the Australia B team from Adelaide NC. There is a 3rd team riding under the name of Captain Marvel Women's Team Sprint: - With Ellesse Andrews nursing collarbone injury, Sophie De Vries comes into the squad, joining Rebecca Petch and Shaane Fulton. - Have 2 teams competing. Australia 1 replicates the team used at the NC in Adelaide with the exception of Kalinda Robinson who replaces Breanna Hargrave and joins Molly Mcgill and Alessia McCaig. Men's Team Pursuit: - Daniel Bridgwater / Keegan Hornblow / George Jackson / Tom Sexton (Nick Kergozou reserve) - John Carter / Graeme Frislie / Conor Leahy / Liam Walsh (Kurt Eather reserve) For NZL, this is definitely a 2nd tier squad with only Tom Sexton being part of the bronze medal winning team from Glasgow last year. Both Sexton and Hornblower were on the squad in Adelaide last week. The Australian team is a bit of a Frankenstein mash up of the 2 teams they had in Adelaide last week but like NZL, they too are missing their big named road riders. Men's Team Sprint: None of the big names are here and don't have a national squad riding - although there is a team listed under Te Awamutu Sports Cycling. There does seem to be something inherently unfair that a championship like this awards full points when there are only 2 nations competing whereas if it was to be classed as a Regional Games, it wouldn't offer any points at all.

Whilst it was disappointing that he couldn't improve on his semi-final time, I'd say there were a lot of positives that he will take away. It would have been great if he could have had 3 swims under 59 seconds but his 58.60 was the fastest he's swum since Tokyo and he does seem to now be consistently in the low 59s which wasn't the case at the end of last year in the World Cup events. Going into Tokyo, Peaty swum 58.87 in February 2021 and going into 2016, he was 1:00.05 so if you're a glass half-full kind of person, it could be argued that he is currently on par with previous performances. It will be difficult to replicate the times he achieved in Rio and Tokyo but I think it is too early to be discounting his medal prospects.

So miss out on the quota because they didn't take part in the World Champs. Given the pairing were in Doha, it seems a strange decision for them to have not taken part.

Entry lists for the Oceania Championship are up: OTC24-Master-Database-Entry-List-for-Website-at-1-Feb.pdf (cyclingnewzealand.nz) The format is pretty horrible so couple of thoughts: There's no Matt Richardson in the sprint events for Australia, but they do have Cornish and Hoffman so should still be able to take top spot in team sprint. In the team pursuit, Aaron Gate isn't listed against the event, but not sure that should be taken as gospel. They will have Keegan Hornblow, Nick Kergozou and Tom Sexton. Ellese Andrews appears on the entry lists but not sure she will be on the start line after breaking her collarbone in Adelaide.

dislodge from Olympic quota spot by just 0.03 seconds

On the women's side, I'd agree with you - GB's position is pretty much entirely on Shriever which makes it difficult to keep pace with nearest rivals. Emily Hutt is one of the best in the under-23s, but the points on offer aren't great. For the men, we've got 4 world class riders so it would be a real shame if they can't find a way to get 2 into Paris. Unfortunately none of them had a great weekend although Ross Cullen looked good in round 2 until he had an issue in his semi-final.

She's planning on flashing her bits and bobs on Onlyfans apparently. (and by bits and bobs I of course mean her medals )

Estimated Olympic rankings after 2024 World Cup Round 2: Men 1 - 14327 2 - 10926 ------------------------------------ 3 - 8198 4 - 7499 5 - 7435 ------------------------------------ 6 - 7171 Women 1 - 14600 2 - 11809 --------------------------------------- 3 - 10151 4 - 9466 5 - 8692 ---------------------------------------- 6 - 8497

BMX Racing World Cup - Round 2 Rotorua Men's Elite: 1.) Joris Daudet 2.) Cedric Butti 3.) Niek Kimmann Women's Elite: 1.) Saya Sakakibara 2.) Bethany Shriever 3.) Manon Veenstra

In order for to dislodge in the 4x100m, their target time is 3:41.74 - around 0.4 faster than they achieved in their heat swim.

Adjusted Olympic rankings after 2024 World Cup Round 1: Men 1 - 13769 2 - 10401 ------------------------------------ 3 - 7718 4 - 7191 5 - 7043 ------------------------------------ 6 - 6924 Women 1 - 13950 2 - 11102 --------------------------------------- 3 - 9685 4 - 8856 5 - 8501 ---------------------------------------- 6 - 8010

BMX Racing World Cup - Round 1 Rotorua Men's Elite: 1.) Romain Mathieu 2.) Joris Daudet 3.) Simon Marquart Women's Elite: 1.) Saya Sakakibara 2.) Laura Smulders 3.) Bethany Shriever