Rafa Maciel

It was the only positive spin I could come up with

IFSC World Cup Koper Lead Men 1. Sorato Anraku 2. Jesse Grupper 3. Alberto Gines Lopez Lead Women: 1. Janja Garnbret 2. Ai Mori 3. Vita Lukan

I think it means they wont be eligible for the Pan-Am continental qualifier so miss out on possible extra quotas.

To be fair you do have 3 golds in the non-Olympic classes and Italy remains the top lightweight nation, it just didn't quite come together for the Olympic boats.

According to the qualification pathway document, as the quota was won at the World Championships, it should be reallocated to the next athlete from the World Champs - so it would go to Bulgaria.

Realistically this is only an administrative issue. Under the terms of the qualification document, World Rowing will write to the NOCs within the next week to confirm the quotas that have been won at the World Champs - with the "neutral" athletes, that isn't going to be possible. Given the IOC clearly want Russia/Belarus to be in Paris, the quota will not be confirmed until they can figure out the logistics of making that happen. However if neutral Belarussians are not allowed to attend or decide that the restrictions placed on them are too great so they tell the IOC to F***-Off, then the quota will be reallocated to Bulgaria - but the chances that it will be a while before the issue is resolved.

Digging into the archive, there was an exception in the qualification document which allowed you to qualify two boats at the continental champs where the nation wins both events and had not secured any quotas at the World Champs - Russia/ROC won both the women's single sculls and the women's lightweight double sculls so qualified both boats.

If you already have 1 boat qualified, you can only win 1 extra quota at the continental championship. You can enter multiple boats to the continental championship but if more than 1 end up in a qualifying position, the NOC have to decide which quota they will accept and the rest would be reallocated.

Because normal rules don't apply to Russians?

For Tokyo, NOCs could only qualify one boat at the continental qualifier. For India that went to the Men's Lightweight Double Sculls because they finished higher than the Single Sculler. Going into Paris the qualification criteria has been changed so any nation that didn't qualify at the World Champs can now qualify two boats whilst any nation that has already secured 1 quota can get a second boat qualified at the continentals.

You can cherry pick any scores from within the set and paint a distorted picture but it seldom leads to a balanced view. You are absolutely correct when you say that Wessels' score increased the average for Hester (+0.406) and Dujardin (+0.357) however by the same measure, her score reduced the average for Charlotte Fry (-0.228). The net impact on score from Wessels was therefore +0.37. For , Wessels had minimal impact on Jessica von Bredow-Werndl and Frederic Wandres (-0.08 and +0.026 respectively) whilst she increased the average score for Isabel Werth by 0.326 points. Her net impact on German team score was therefore +0.273. Her impact was most marked for - increasing the team score by over 0.7 points. The scores for all three riders were elevated by Wessels - Nanna Skodborg Merrald (+0.241), Carina Cassoe Kruth (+0.327) and Andreas Helgstrand (+0.135).

As much as I love a good conspiracy theory, the battle for gold was never likely to be all that close - neither Germany nor Denmark brought their top horse/rider combinations to the competition whereas GB did.

- 242.220 (Discard: 74.565). Up around 8 points on world championship score. - 239.674 (Discard: 74.845). Up around 9 points on world championship score. - 228.727 (Discard: 74.146). Finishes around 7 points lower than 2022 World Champs. In the quest for Olympic quotas: - 216.119 (Discard: 70.217). Quota - 213.727 (Discard: 70.947). Quota - 214.582 (Discard: 69.068). Quota - 210.249 (Discard: 65.978). All went a bit wrong for them on 4th line rider. - 208.400 (Discard: NA). - 207.454 (Discard: N/A). - 207.159 (Discard: 62.888). - 206.241 (Discard: 66.972). Team down by around 4 points compared to their 2022 score. - 202.409 (Discard El). - 195.435 (Discard: N/A). A competition to forget for Ireland.

They are definitely a bit hit-and-miss - with the emphasis on the "miss" part this far out from the games - but that doesn't stop various media using the Gracenote projections to create a narrative about how well a team should be doing and that narrative can be difficult to shift.

Yeah - and I think that is more realistic - but the Gracenote projection had France initially at 32 and this month at 31 which I can't see happening. Very frustrating that nobody has published their full breakdown to see what they were thinking.

Seems like we have been saying that across multiple sport events - track cycling, athletics and now rowing. It's getting increasingly difficult to see where the projected 31 gold medals are going to come from.

With qualifying in the women's quadruple sculls, I think this means that they will no longer get host quota for women's single sculls. If I have read the qualifying document correctly, it will be reallocated to the FOQR - but unlike the 2 existing quotas available there, the reallocated host quota will be awarded to an NOC that has not qualified a boat via World or Continental Champs.

The third-line riders across all teams have competed. At the top of the leaderboard: - 160.962(Discard: 74.565). Charlotte Dujardin looks to be back to form scoring 82.422 and sits at the top of the leaderboard - that's a gain of over 4 points compared to 2022. Overall the team is running over 7.5 points ahead of last year's World Champs. - 155.062 (Discard: 74.845). Just under a point ahead of 2022 WC score s pretty much bang on same score she got in 2022 World Champs. - 150.171 (Discard: 74.146). Beginning to drop off the pace. Now around 3.5 points lower than 2022 World Champs. Worth saying at this point that only have brought their top team to this competition so the scores are slightly flattering them. In the quest for Olympic quotas we're down to 4 fighting for 3 places with Portugal beginning to make their move up the table: - 144.954 (Discard: 70.217). Drops back to 5th overall. Victoria Max-Theurer Score ups her 2022 WC score by 4.55 with the team now running 1.678 ahead of world championship score. - 142.780 (Discard: 70.947). Currently 8th overall. Down 1.2 points on 2022 WC score. - 141.817 (Discard: 65.978). Currently 9th overall. Team score over 1.2 points higher than 2022. - 141.476 (Discard: 69.068). Currently 10th overall. Running over 3.5 points up 2.7 compared to 2022 WC performance. - 139.100 (Discard: 68.059). Currently 11th overall. Just under a point ahead of 2022 WC score. - 136.055 (Discard 65.994). Currently 12th overall - 135.962 (Discard: NA). Currently 13th overall - 135.201 (Discard: 66.972). Currently 14th overall. Team have dropped over 2.3 points behind their 2022 score. - 133.370 (Discard: N/A). Currently 15th overall. Still running over 2.2 points higher than they achieved in 2022 but out of contention. - 127.438 (Discard: N/A). Currently 16th overall. All going a bit wrong for Ireland and now almost 6 points behind their 2022 WC score.

Missed the announcement of McCulloch's replacement last month with British Cycling opting for a safe pair of hands: Scott Pollock to return to British Cycling as women's podium sprint coach With them looking at Emma Finucane to have the potential to win 3 medals next year, it is probably one of the most important coaching decisions they will have made in a long time.

Looking distinctly likely that could end up sending one of their smallest rowing squads to an Olympic Games in over 20 years. Having only entered 12 out of the 14 classes, they are now down to just 9 boats still in contention. The only positive to the situation is that over half of the remaining British crews could find themselves on the podium at the end of the regatta.

The first- and second-line riders across all teams have competed. At the top of the leaderboard: - 78.540 (Discard: 74.565). Bringing back Carl Hestor seems to have paid off and they are currently running 2.5 points ahead of their team score at last year's World Champs. - 77.174 (Discard: 74.845). Isabell Werth scores pretty much bang on same score she got in 2022 World Champs. - 74.410 (Discard: 74.146). Over 2.3 points lower than 2022 World Champs. (NB - The German team has 2 new riders compared to their 2022 squad whilst Denmark have the same riders as 2022 but they are on different horses.) In the quest for Olympic quotas: - 71.724 (Discard: 70.217). Currently sits 4th overall. Score is down 1.7 on 2022 score. - 71.584 (Discard: 70.947). Currently 5th overall. Down 0.7 points on 2022 WC score. - 71.072 (Discard: 69.068). Currently 8th overall. Score is up 2.7 compared to 2022 WC performance. - 69.596 (Discard: 65.978). Currently 10th overall. New combination but team score 0.5 points higher than 2022. - 68.898 (Discard: 68.059). Currently 11th overall. As above, new combination in the team but score is broadly in line with 2022. - 68.633 (Discard 65.994). Currently 12th overall - 67.220 (Discard: 66.972). Currently 13th overall. Pretty much the same score they achieved in 2022. - 65.994 (Discard: N/A). Currently 14th overall. Over 4 points higher than they achieved in 2022. - 64.689 (Discard: NA). Currently 15th overall - 64.037 (Discard: N/A). Currently 16th overall. Around 1.7 points lower than 2022. At the moment, Austria, Spain and Belgium are looking pretty good for quotas but Portugal could run them close (probably at the expense of Austria).

After a break for the lightweight singles, more dreams of free croissants and pain-aux-chocolat in the athletes village are over: Men's Lightweight Double Sculls Men's Pair Men's Double Sculls

First batch of Olympic events complete on Day 4 and more boats drop out of the reckoning for Olympic quotas: Women's Double Sculls Men's Single Sculls Women's Single Sculls

Rowing World Championship With Para-Rowing action complete on Day 4 of World Champs, 8 more boats have booked their tickets to Paris 2023 - 4 in PR1 W1x and 4 in PR2 Mix2x PR1 Men's Single Sculls PR1 Women's Single Sculls PR2 Mixed Double Sculls PR3 Mixed Double Sculls PR3 Mixed Coxed Four Quotas

Nielsen's Gracenote Virtual Medal Table - August 2023 Gracenote have released their updated VMT for August: NOC Gold Silver Bronze Total Change Since July 35 44 47 126 Down 2 medals overall with 8 less golds 31 20 24 75 Up 7 medals overall with 5 more golds 31 16 11 58 Down 5 medals overall with 1 less gold 18 24 23 65 Up 3 medals overall with 3 extra golds 16 18 15 49 Up 7 medals overall with 4 more golds 14 18 16 48 Up 3 medals overall with 6 less golds 14 10 14 38 Down 3 medals overall with 1 more gold 12 15 28 55 1 more medal overall - no change in gold, 6 less silver and 7 more bronze 10 4 9 23 Down 1 medal overall with 1 more gold 9 12 11 32 3 less medals overall with 1 less gold