Rafa Maciel

Anyone know if this is being broadcast in UK? Can't see anything on Eurosport or the Discovery+ App.

And Katie Archibald is in the line up for team pursuit - despite only being listed in the omnium and madison in the entry list. Evidently the provision entry list by event document on the UCI page is either out of date or the person producing it got bored of keying in names and gave up half way through.

Both mixed doubles curling semi-finals going into the final end tied at 5-5. GB with final stone advantage in one and Denmark with last stone in the other.

Equestrian - Eventing Policy Document: BEF_BE_Eventing_Olympic_Selection_Policy_2024 Final.pdf (britishequestrian.org.uk) Key Points: Primary objective for GB Equestrian is to win the Eventing Team Gold. Winning an individual medal is secondary. GB Equestrian will select 4 riders to the squad with 1 being designated as reserve pairing - I am reading this as traveling reserve but could be wrong. Further reserve combinations may also be announced by selectors including the use of ranking order. In selecting the combinations, regard will be given to results from 4* and 5* events from January 2023 to the end of qualifying period. 1st phase of selection to take place on or around 19th February - so we may see an initial long list of contenders published by British Equestrian. Only athletes in the A+/A/B+/B funding category can be considered for selection at this time. Another selection meeting will take place in May where 12 athlete/horse combinations will be selected of which 3 will be reserves. Final selection of team to take place around 19th June. Additional Factors: Any rider interested in competing for GB has until 7th May to complete the register of interest but the 1st phase of selection is scheduled for 19th February. Selectors reserve the right to choose a combinations with "outstanding talent" in 1 or 2 of the disciplines.

Sara Benfares has been provisionally suspended after positive drug test. German Anti-Doping Agency reporting positive test for EPO and the steroid testosterone. I have seen on other sources that she has been receiving medical treatment, so it is possible that the adverse finding could be linked to that rather than performance enhancement.

Yeah I wouldn't have got that any time soon - and unfortunately now all I keep hearing in my mind is the guy from Only Fools and Horses shouting "Gary!" (That reference will mean nothing to a lot of international posters)

Interesting article on GB Cycling's ambitions for Paris. Perhaps a little bit of expectation management given how well things went in Glasgow last year, but they are setting a 'realistic' medal target of 10 - 2 less than they achieved in Tokyo. Team gb cuts olympic medal target to ‘realistic’ 10 - 4 Jan 2024 - Cycling Weekly Magazine - Readly If you don't want to sign up for an account, the second section of the article talks about GB Cycling's reduced revenue and lists the main cycling events in the run up to Paris. It also flags that British Cycling had developed its own 3-D printed track bike in-house with the product being priced at 55,000 GBP - I think this may have been the bike that Charlie Tanfield was on when he crashed in Glasgow but I could be wrong. A new line of skinsuits was also debuted in Glasgow. Last up, it talks about Laura Kenny and her prospects to make the squad for Paris with the GB performance director saying that her prospects should become clear around March.

For the life of me I can't think who Gary Roberts is and it is going to bug me all night.

I don't think they publish the breakdown - or at least not for free The only way I've been able to find information about specific predictions is by trawling through various media outlets. Unfortunately, a lot of them are just quoting the headline numbers without going into specifics.

Ever the pessimist, but I have a feeling he is going to miss out. His form is just way too hit-and-miss (pardon the pun) and he hasn't been able to perform when it really matters so I don't think he will be able to get it done at either the World qualifier or European champs. If he doesn't get a quota at those events, then I don't think he'll get it through the rankings as there are at least 2 athletes ahead of him who don't currently have quotas in that list.

Gracenote took the decision not to include them in the analysis because they have been absent from international competition so they couldn't be factored into their model.

Gracenote's gold medal projections for seem uncontroversial (although the keirin is always a bit of a lottery): Men's Rugby 7's Team Women's Rugby 7's Team Women's Keirin: Ellesse Andrews Canoe Sprint - Women's K1 500m: Lisa Carrington

Nielsen's Gracenote Virtual Medal Table - January 2024 At the 6-month countdown to Paris, Gracenote have released their updated virtual medal table: NOC Gold Silver Bronze Total Change Since Last Release 37 46 46 129 Up 3 medals overall - 2 additional silver and 1 additional bronze 35 28 22 85 Up 7 medals in overall - 3 additional silver and 4 additional bronze. 26 16 11 53 Down 1 medal overall - 1 gold downgraded to silver and 1 bronze lost. 17 22 25 64 Down 2 silver medals offset by 1 additional bronze for overall drop of 1 medal in total. 17 15 24 56 Down 2 medals in total - 1 additional silver medal gained offset by drop of 3 bronze medals. 16 9 10 35 Down 2 medals in total - dropping 1 silver and 1 bronze medal. 15 17 16 48 Down 2 medals in total - dropping 2 bronze medals. 13 12 22 47 Down 1 medal in total - 2 silver medals dropped offset by an additional bronze medal. 10 14 15 39 Up 2 medals overall - 1 additional silver and 1 additional bronze. 7 6 10 23 Moves into top ten (replaces Canada)

GB Cycling will keep their cards close to their chest until closer to Paris. Obviously Tarling wants to compete in both road and track, but we'll just need to wait and see whether he has done enough during the off-season to impress the selectors enough for that to happen. Happy to be corrected, but I am struggling to think of a rider who made their debut in the team pursuit squad at the Olympics without first having been part of the European/World/Nations Cup squads. Going for the Madison is perhaps an 'easier' option than putting him into the team pursuit - it's a single ride rather than the 3 required for the TP, less technical (although more tactical) and would perhaps give GB an element of surprise. Talking of Team Pursuit - it looks like Katie Archibald is focusing on the omnium in Adelaide.

So after all of our debate about Tarling and what he could possibly bring to the team pursuit squad when it comes to Paris and he isn't on the Adelaide provisional entry list. As it stands, he is down to do the Madison with Oliver Wood and is the reserve rider for the elimination and the omnium. GB's team pursuit squad is Charlie Tanfield, Oliver Wood, Will Tidbell and Josh Charlton with Michael Gill as reserve. They will be up against very strong team who will have Filippo Ganna back in the squad. On the upside however, there will be no so GB could/should be able target a top 3 finish.

I think that the only quota the ICF confirmed when they covered the event in their reporting was Brodie Crawford in the Men's C1: Rohan issues timely reminder while Fox wins again | ICF - Planet Canoe (canoeicf.com) They haven't updated their quota tracker since the Asian Continental qualifier: quota_allocation_publication_paris2024_after_asian_q.pdf (canoeicf.com)

Doesn't the marathon qualification window run through to May?

I think Caudrey already had the qualifying standard from Budapest WC last year - she PB'd with 4.75 in the final if I remember correctly.

If a nation qualifies a full team of riders they have 7 quotas - 3 for sprint and 4 for endurance. There is an option available to add an 8th rider from another cycling discipline if they want so it is not impossible that a road cyclist could take to the track (and vice-versa) I haven't been able to find the entry list for Adelaide, but I know other people here have said that he is. He is in Australia and is due to take part in the Cadel Evans Road Race this weekend so it would make sense that this would be the Nations Cup event that he would participate in. Tactically it could be a great move for GB, if he is able to help steer the team to a win because that would pretty much seal their quota for Paris. I agree that he has the potential to strengthen the squad but only if he is able to work within the team - putting together a great team pursuit squad isn't just about finding the 4 fastest riders, the technical aspects of managing the changes are equally important. Katie Archibald is an amazing rider, but we have seen on occasion that she can pull the team apart when they're not working as a coherent group. There is no point in putting a Ferrari engine in a Ford Mondeo chassis if all the parts aren't able to work together. Personally, I don't think they need Tarling to be able to beat Italy or Denmark. They showed at the Europeans earlier this month that they can beat both the Danes and the Italians. The only caveat to that win is the fact that the Italians didn't have their strongest squad in Apeldoorn so can't draw direct parallels. Initially I think the plan was for her to return at the World Champs in October but rumours started to swirl around that she was targeting Paris. Anna Henderson was 4th at the worlds last year and took silver at the Europeans so a bit harsh to suggest that she isn't a medal chance (FWIW, I think Chloe Dygert, Marlene Reusser and Grace Brown are more likely medalists than Henderson). Likewise for the road race - it's always a bit of a lottery and can throw up surprises but Henderson and Georgi will have outside chances of sneaking a medal.

I know that I am probably in the minority here but at this stage, I am not convinced she'll be in the squad for Paris. There are 4 places in the road squad and barring injury I'd say three of those places are already sewn up by Pfeiffer Georgi, Anna Henderson and Anna Shackley. For the final spot, Backstedt will likely be competing against Claire Steels and Lizzie Deignan. From a performance perspective, Steels would have the edge - purely because she is the more experienced rider - but Backstedt had a strong Simac Tour in September so she could get the nod on the basis of development for LA and Brisbane. Similarly, I see the likelihood of her getting into the track squad to be slim. Like the road team, there are only 4 places available on the endurance team and the competition to get into the team pursuit is going to be fierce. Again, barring injury, Katie Archibald is nailed on for the team. For me it is difficult to see Backstedt displacing the likes of Elinor Barker, Josie Knight and Anna Morris and there is the potential return of Laura Kenny if rumours are to be believed. GB are not going to do anything that would jeopardise the potential gold medal in the team pursuit, so if she isn't an established member of the team pursuit squad by now, then she wont be lining up with them in Paris. Likewise with Josh Tarling I am not convinced by these expectations for him to be doubling up on the road and track in Paris. He is going to be a genuine medal prospect in the time trial and likewise with Dan Bigham, Ethan Vernon, Ethan Hayter and Charlie Tanfield, they have a squad with genuine prospect of taking gold in team pursuit so it is difficult to see where Tarling would be able to break into the squad. Initially I thought that Tarling would only take part in the ITT and then Hayter or Vernon would replace him in the road race, but I don't think the schedule makes that particularly likely.

Think they may have a formatting issue with their website as it can only show 10 events on each day and there is no way of scrolling down any further, so every day is missing races from the evening session. There are definitely 4 finals scheduled for the 1st evening. All of the races are included in the pdf schedule version and the full schedule is also available on the normal World Aquatics page: Competition Schedule | World Aquatics Official

Any thoughts on why Aidan Walsh was selected ahead of Dean Walsh?

Women's draw:

The draw for next month's world team table tennis championships in Busan was made last week. The top 3 in each group progress to the knockout stages.

Squad announced for the Olympic Qualifier in Busto Arsizio: Men: Men's Flyweight (51Kg) - Kiaran MacDonald Men's Featherweight (57Kg) - Jack Dryden Men's Light Welterweight (63.5Kg) - Patris Mughalzai Men's Light Middle Weight (71Kg) - Lewis Richardson Men's Light Heavyweight (80Kg) - Bevan Taylor Men's Heavyweight (92Kg) - Patrick Brown Women: Women's Light Flyweight (50Kg) - Savannah Stubley Women's Featherweight (57Kg) - Elise Glynn Women's Lightweight (60Kg) - Shona Whitwell Women's Middleweight (75Kg) - Chantelle Reid