Rafa Maciel

Women's Elite Road Race Gold: Mischa Bredewold Silver: Lorena Wiebes Bronze: Lotte Kopecky

Looks like Mark Cavendish will be returning to racing next month after crashing out of the Tour de France - he is provisionally listed for the Presidential Cycling Tour of Turkey which runs from 8-Oct to 15-Oct and will be one of the last events to take place before the qualification window closes. Josh Tarling also filling out his schedule for the next couple of weeks - he is provisionally due to take part in CRO race next week and the Chrono des Nations on 15th Oct. I have a feeling that Geraint Thomas's season is done. Likewise, I can't see Geoghan-Hart riding again this year especially as he is switching to Lidl-Trek next season. Not sure what the plan is for Tom Pidcock - he could take part in a couple of the Italian 1-day races or compete in the North American swing of the MTB World Cup. We know that the Yates brothers are due to take part in a couple of the Italian 1-day races but having the lower order ranking riders competing over the next couple of weeks could be the difference between having 3 or 4 riders in Paris next year.

Pontevedra is obviously going to be important to determine the World Champion, but there's not that many athletes who are realistically in contention - for many the main focus is going to be on securing Olympic selection. - Australia Criteria 1: Top-8 finish at Paris Olympic Test Event. (Not Achieved) Criteria 2: One athlete will secure selection if they finish in the top-8 at Pontevedra. Criteria 3: Any athlete who achieves a top 5 finish at designated WTCS sprint event or top-8 finish at Olympic distance designated WTCS event. Designated events will take place between March and May next year. Likely Selection - Matthew Hauser best placed to secure nomination at Pontevedra but unlikely that anyone on the women's side will make the necessary grade. - New Zealand Criteria 1: Top-3 finish at Paris Olympic Test Event. (Not Achieved) Criteria 2: Two or more top-8 placings at either Paris Test Event or WTCS event during qualification. Criteria 3: Selectors discretion. Likely Selection - Hayden Wilde has already met criteria 2 so he will be going all out for World title. - Canada Criteria 1: Top 5 finish at Paris Olympic Test Event or at WTCS Final at Pontevedra. Criteria 2: Two top-12 finishes at WTCS event or Paris Olympic Test Event. Criteria 3: Requires a top-12 finish at WTCS event and top-8 finish within mixed relay event. Criteria 4: Discretionary nomination based on Individual Olympic Ranking. Likely Selection - Tyler Mislawchuk has already met criteria 2 but a top-5 finish in Pontevedra would seal his place. - USA Criteria 1: If 2 athletes secure podium finish at Paris Olympic Test Event, both will be nominated. Taylor Knibb selected. Criteria 2: If an athlete secures podium finish at Paris Olympic Test Event and another athlete secures top-8 finish, both athletes will be nominated. Criteria 3: A single athlete finishing within the top-8 at Paris Olympic Test Event will be nominated. Morgan Pearson selected. Criteria 4: An athlete who secures podium finish at Pontevedra will secure nomination. Criteria 5: An athlete who secures podium finish at designated WTCS event in 2024 will secure nomination. Criteria 6: Discretionary selection Likely Selection - Unlikely that any additional athletes will secure nomination for USA at Pontevedra but Taylor Spivey could just sneak on to the podium. - Great Britain Criteria 1a: Athletes securing podium finishes at both Olympic Test Event and Pontevedra will be nominated Criteria 1b: If Alex Yee or Georgia Taylor-Brown secure podium place at Olympic Test Event and have achieved a podium at WTCS event, they will be selected. Alex Yee duly selected. Criteria 2: Discretionary selection - athletes who have achieved at least 1 WTCS podium and are considered medal contenders. Likely Selection - Beth Potter can secure nomination with a podium finish at Pontevedra. GTB and Sophie Coldwell both meet criteria 2 - Germany Criteria 1: Up to 2 athletes finishing in the top-8 at Olympic Test Event. Laura Lindemann selected. Criteria 2: Up to 2 athletes finishing in the top-8 at Pontevedra. Criteria 3: Finish in top-12 of WTCS standings. Criteria 4: Discretionary selection. Likely Selection - Lisa Tertsch on the women's side and both Jonas Schomburg and Lasse Luhrs would have potential to secure their nomination at Pontevedra. - France Criteria 1: Podium at Olympic Test Event - Dorian Coninx and Cassandre Beaugrand selected. Criteria 2: Athletes finishing in the top 8 at Olympic Test Event and securing podium finish at Pontevedra will be nominated. Criteria 3: Discretionary selection Likely Selection - Emma Lonbardi has a top-8 finish at the Test Event as does Pierre Le Corre and Leo Bergere. If any of them finish on the podium this weekend, then they will be on the team. - Norway Criteria 1: Athletes with top-3 finish in at least 1 WTCS Olympic distance event between May-23 and May-24 will be selected. Criteria 2: Based on Individual Olympic Ranking list. - Spain Criteria 1: Any athlete with a top-8 finish at Olympic Test event will be selected. Criteria 2: Any athlete within the top 12 of the Individual Olympic Ranking at 31-Dec-23 will be selected. Criteria 3: Discretionary selection. Likely Selection - Antonio Serrat Seoane would currently be selected under criteria 2. - Japan Criteria 1: Highest ranked athlete in the Individual Olympic Ranking will be selected provided they are within the top-20 of the ranking. Criteria 2: Athletes finishing within the top-8 at the Olympic Test Event, Pontevedra WTCS final or WTCS race in Yokohama in 2024 will be selected. Likely Selection - Kenji Nener is currently ranked 18th in Olympic ranking list and would be eligible for selection.

Women's U23 Road Race Gold: Ilse Pluimers Silver: Anna Shackley Bronze: Linda Zanetti Very good result for GBR and their hopes of securing a top 5 spot in the world rankings as she'll pick up additional 85 points. So far this week, are net +140 points and we still have the road race to go.

And both races should be available on BBC

Baku Grand Slam Results - Day 1 Men's 60Kg 1.) "Neutral" Ramazan Abdulaev 2.) "Neutral" Gamzat Zairbekov 3.) Kim Won Jin & Romain Valadier Picard Men's 66Kg 1.) Yashar Najafov 2.) Takeshi Takeoka 3.) David Garcia Torne & Denis Vieru Women's 48Kg 1.) Assunta Scutto 2.) Leyla Aliyeva 3.) Shirine Boukli & "Neutral" Sabina Giliazova Women's 52Kg 1.) Kisumi Omori 2.) Distria Krasniqi 3.) Reka Pupp & Odette Giuffrida Women's 57Kg 1.) Nora Gjakova 2.) Eteri Liparteliani 3.) Timna Nelson Levy & Priscilla Gneto

Yeah - could well be the case. Can't see a start list for Il Lorbardia yet, but at the moment PCS are showing both Yates brothers on the start list for Giro dell'Emilia on 30-Sep so they could end up doing both.

Unfortunately not. He's currently the 10th ranked GBR rider and whilst he will pick up 70 points for the win, this will take his total to 616, but that would only be enough to move him up to 9th, around 40 points behind Max Poole. If he could get a top 10 finish in the road race then it would probably be enough to get him into the top 8 and become a ranking rider, but the overall impact on GBR score likely to be minimal - maybe something in the region of +10 or +20. Realistically in order for the Europeans to have any impact on GBR's ranking points, it would require Ethan Vernon to secure a top 5 finish. At the same time, there is a chance that GBR could still move into a top 5 position, but it is dependent on performance of France. France are not defending any points from the Europeans but their only ranking rider listed on the entry list is Christophe Laporte. If he can get top 10 finish, then he will bank decent points total. The real movement in the French score likely to come from Valentin Madouas who is taking part in the Tour of Luxembourg. He is defending 180 points having won 2 stages of the tour last year and ultimately finishing in 3rd overall. If he doesn't match that, then there is a chance that France will drop below GB in the next rankings. Personally I think that whether GB get into top 5 and secure full team of 4 is likely to come down to the Yates brothers and which races they take part in over the next couple of weeks.

Starting order for men's world championships: Floor Pommel Rings Vault P-Bars Horizontal Bar Subdivision 1 Subdivision 2 Subdivision 3 Subdivision 4 Subdivision 5 Subdivision 6 Asa above, = Apparatus Specialists = Individual All-Around Athletes

Starting order for women's world championships: Vault Uneven Bars Balance Beam Floor Subdivision 1 Subdivision 2 Subdivision 3 Subdivision 4 Subdivision 5 Subdivision 6 Subdivision 7 Subdivision 8 Subdivision 9 Subdivision 10 = Apparatus Specialists = Individual All-Around Athletes

I've developed a bit of an unhealthy obsession with these rankings so can give my opinion for what it is worth. The truth is that whilst it is possible, it is unlikely that Ukraine will be able to close the gap. The Ukrainian team do not have any points from 2022 European Championship so anything they win this week will help increase their total. Valeriya Kononenko played her part today after she finished the time trial in 10th place and picks up 3 points. In addition, assuming that they finish, they will also pick up points from the mixed team time trial. Worst case scenario, as there are only 8 teams competing, they will pick up 10 more points Later in the week, 4 of your ranking riders will take part in the road race - Maryna Altukhova, Yuliia Biriukova, Valeriya Kononenko and Olha Kulynych. The ideal scenario would be for one of those riders to secure a top 10 finish and bank at least 50 points but realistically that isn't going to happen. I think they'll be pleased if one or more of them can finish in the points with a top 30 finish. So, at the moment it looks like Ukraine will come away from the Europeans around +15 points which would mean that they would need to compete in some of the remaining UCI Tour events to make up the deficit if they were to hoping to move up the rankings.

Yup - points are available for every race and stage so there is still time to increase points total but there is only about 4 weeks left before the ranking cut off.

Agree on Tarling - he is definitely in with a shout at a medal and has a great chance of taking top spot on the podium. If he does medal, it should be a pretty safe bet that he would also secure his place on the GBR team for Paris assuming he stays injury free over the winter.

Sorry - had mistakenly thought there was host spot for team. French women should make the cut but less likely that the men will.

Women's Vault Darya Yassinskaya & Amina Khalimarden Nazanin Teymurova Julie Erichsen Hillary Heron Katrina Jurevica Bilge Tarhan Gulnaz Jumabekova Women's Uneven Bars Yelyzaveta Hubareva Jana Mahmoud Julie Erichsen Magdalini Tsiori Zarith Imaan Khalid Hillary Heron Ameera Hariadi Derin Tanriyasukur Women's Balance Beam Nazanin Teymurova Yelyzaveta Hubareva Marie Roenbeck Wong Hiu Ying Angel & Chan Cheuk Lam Marta Pihan-Kulesza Mariana Parente Tina Zelcic Women's Floor Nazanin Teymurova & Samira Gahramanova Elvira Katsali Hillary Heron Darya Yassinskaya Tran Doan Quynh Nam Marie Roenbeck Mariana Parente

Men's Vault Shek Wai Hung Ondrej Kalny Tseng Wei-Sheng Dominick Cunningham Neofytos Kyriakou Audrys Nin Reyes Juancho Miguel Besana Sebastian Sponevik Men's Parallel Bars Ahmed-Riadh Aliout Lin Guan-Yi Stefanos Tsolakidis Audrys Nin Reyes Ricards Plate Sebastian Sponevik Fabian De Luna Quentin Brandenburger Men's Horizontal Bar Tin Srbic Ivan Dejanovic Neofytos Kyriakou & Marios Georgiou Ricards Plate Lin Guan-Yi Juancho Miguel Besana Ahmed-Riadh Aliouat

I've started, so may as well finish... Qualification Pathway Criteria 5 - The highest ranked eligible athlete on each apparatus will secure a quota place for Paris by name. Qualification will be based on scores from apparatus finals results. If no eligible athlete qualifies for the final, the quota will be determined by qualification results. Athletes from NOCs who have already secured team qualification are ineligible as are individual athletes who have qualified for All-Around competition under criteria 4. Men's Floor Dominick Cunningham & Eamon Montgomery Filip Lidbeck & Kim Vanstroem Neofytos Kyriakou Enkhtuvshin Damdindorj Guilherme Campos Akseli Karsikas Men's Pommel Horse Rhys McClenaghan - Starts as favourite for the quota Shiao Yu-Jan Matvei Petrov Harutyun Merdinyan Filip Ude Ahmad Abu Al Soud Dmitrijs Mickevics Radomir Sliz Men's Rings Artur Avetisyan & Vahagn Davtyan - I am expecting the quota to go to one of these two with Davtyan possibly starting as favourite. Nikita Simonov Vinzenz Hoeck Eleftherios Petrounias Lin Guan-Yi Sokratis Pilakouris Fabian De Luna

My understanding is that if you participate at World Champs as an apparatus specialist, then you will only compete in the one event - so for example Rhys McClenaghan is qualified as a pommel horse specialist and will only compete on pommel horse. Any athlete qualifying for Olympics as an apparatus specialist will be allowed to compete on all apparatus in Paris.

For the women's team I think we can probably expect and to come through safely for quota. Behind them I can see and also qualifying. On the men's side, should be a definite along with . and should also have enough quality in their squads to qualify.

Athletes eligible under Criteria 4 but not included in the women's team event are: Rifda Irfanaluthfi Aleah Finnegan & Kylee Ann Kvamme Emma Yap & Nadine Joy Nathan Aida Bauyrzhanova Dildora Aripova Milka Elpitiya Reece Cobb & Madeleine Marshall Olivia Kelly Karla Navas & Lana Herrera Ginna Escobar Betancur & Yiseth Valenzuela Alai Perea Lynnzee Brown Makarena Pinto Adasme & Franchesca Santi Ana Karina Mendez Stella Diaz Muniz Kaylia Nemour & Lahna Salem Jana Abdelsalam & Sandra Elsadek Maria Tronrud & Mari Kanter Barbora Mokosova Emma Slevin & Halle Hilton Anna Lashchevska & Ilona Krupa Lucija Hribar & Zala Trtnik Camille Rasmussen Lena Bickel & Caterina Cereghetti Sevgi Kayisoglu & Bengisu Yildiz Athanasia Mesiri Filipa Martins & Mafalda Costa Thelma Adalsteinsdottir & Margaret Les Kristinsdottir Lihie Raz Christina Zwicker Celeste Mordenti Valerija Ratobilska Kaja Skalska

Qualification Pathway Criteria 4 - Qualification is open only to those NOCs who do not have a full team qualified through Criteria 1 or Criteria 2. Individual quotas will be awarded to the 8 highest ranked eligible men's All-Around athletes and 14 women's All-Around athletes, based on the All-Around qualification scores. Athletes eligible under Criteria 4 but included in the team event on the men's side are: Carlos Edriel Yulo Van Vi Luong Yeh Cheng & Lee Chih Kai Usukhbayar Erkhembayar Yogeshwar Singh Mikhail Koudinov & Ethan Dick Isaac Nunez Joel Alvarez Andres Josue Perez Gines Santiago Mayol Rodrigo Gomez Diorges Escobar Hillal Metidji Hamza Hossaini Artur Davtyan & Gagik Khachikyan Elias Koski & Oskar Kirmes Sofus Heggemsnes & Harald Wibye Ilias Georgiou & Michalis Chari Ricardo Rudy & Askhab Matiev Ivan Tikhonov Gytis Chasazyrovas Sebastian Gawronski & Kacper Garnczarek Adam Steele Jose Nogueira Petar Vefic Yordan Aleksandrov & Kevin Penev Daniel Bago Marcus Stenberg Valgard Reinhardsson

We're a couple of weeks away from the 2023 World Championships where the next raft of quotas will be awarded so may be good time to look at the runners and riders: Qualification Pathway Criteria 2 - 20 teams will compete for full quota of 5 gymnasts at Paris. Quotas awarded to the 9 highest ranked teams not already qualified based on their team qualification score. Qualification Pathway Criteria 3 - The NOCs of the 10th, 11th and 12th ranked teams not already qualified will each secure 1 individual athlete quota. Again, this is based on the team qualification score. The teams competing for the quotas under these criteria are confirmed as: Women's Team Men's Team

manage to fend off 4 match points - including coming back from 0-40 down - to somehow see off in the doubles to top the group and qualify for Malaga Cam Norrie has the rather dubious honour of being the only member of the GB squad that didn't record a win this week.

A lot of action across both the men's and women's tours on the roads this week: Men's Events La Vuelta Ciclista a Espana 1.) Sepp Kuss 2.) Jonas Vingegaard 3.) Primoz Roglic Tour of Slovaquie 1.) Remi Cavagna 2.) Stefan Kung 3.) Milan Vader Grand Prix de Wallonie 1.) Gonzalo Serrano Rodriguez 2.) Dylan Teuns 3.) Jasper De Buyst Giro della Toscana - Memorial Alfredo Martini 1.) Pavel Sivakov 2.) Richard Antonio Carapaz Montenegro 3.) Felix Grosschartner Gran Pemio citta di Peccioli - Coppa Sabatini 1.) Marc Hirschi 2.) Pavel Sivakov 3.) Tadej Pogacar Kampionenschap van Vlaanderen 1.) Jasper Philipsen 2.) Dylan Groenewegen 3.) Fabio Jakobsen Super 8 Classic 1.) Mathieu Van Der Poel 2.) Anthony Turgis 3.) Florian Vermeersch Memorial Marco Pantani 1.) Alexey Lutsenko 2.) Marc Hirschi 3.) Pavel Sivakov Women's Events Tour de Romandie 1.) Demi Vollering 2.) Katarzyna Niewiadoma 3.) Marlen Reusser Tour Cycliste Feminin International de l'Ardeche 1.) Marta Cavalli 2.) Erica Magnaldi 3.) Anastasiya Kolesava Grisette Grand Prix de Wallonie 1.) Marta Lach 2.) Sylvia Persico 3.) Victoire Berteau AG Tour De La Semois 1.) Karlijn Swinkels 2.) Clara Koppenburg 3.) Noemi Ruegg

FIG World Challenge Cup - Paris Results Men's Vault 1.) Harry Hepworth: DD 5.600 Ex 8.850 & DD 5.600 Ex 9.350 Total: 14.700 2.) Leo Saladino: DD 5.600 Ex 9.050 & DD 5.200 Ex 8.650 Total: 14.250 3.) Jose Lopez: DD 5.200 Ex 9.150 & DD 5.200 Ex 8.950 Total: 14.250 Men's Parallel Bars 1.) Lukas Dauser: DD 6.600 Ex 8.650 Total: 15.250 2.) Mitchel Morgans: DD 6.100 Ex 8.550 Total: 14.650 3.) Cameron-Lie Bernard: DD 6.300 Ex 8.300 Total: 14.600 Men's Horizontal Bar 1.) Tang Chia-Hung: DD 6.300 Ex 8.650 Total: 14.950 2.) Arthur Mariano: DD 5.600 Ex 8.750 Total: 14.350 3.) Bernardo Miranda: DD 5.200 Ex 8.700 Total: 13.900 Women's Balance Beam 1.) Marine Boyer: DD 5.700 Ex 7.900 Total: 13.500 (Penalty -0.1) 2.) Kaylia Nemour: DD 5.600 Ex 7.900 Total: 13.500 3.) Flavia Saraiva: DD 5.500 Ex 7.950 Total: 13.450 Women's Floor 1.) Melanie de Jesus dos Santos: DD 5.500 Ex 8.150 Total: 13.650 2.) Jade Barbosa: DD 5.600 Ex 7.800 Total: 13.400 3.) Alexa Moreno: DD 5.800 Ex 7.500 Total: 13.300