Rafa Maciel

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

PanAmerican/Oceania Continental Championships - Day 2 Men's 81Kg 1.) Francois Gauthier Drapeau 2.) Guilherme Schmidt 3.) Medickson Del Orbe Cortorreal & Adrian Gandia Men's 90Kg 1.) Rafael Macedo 2.) Louis Krieber Gagnon 3.) John Jayne & Mariano Coto Bersier Men's 100Kg 1.) Shady Elnahas 2.) Leonardo Goncalves 3.) Nathaniel Keeve & Thomas Briceno Men's +100Kg 1.) Andy Granda 2.) Rafael Silva 3.) Marc Deschenes & Freddy Figueroa Women's 70Kg 1.) Elvismar Rodriguez 2.) Aoife Coughlan 3.) Luana Carvalho & Celinda Corozo Women's 78Kg 1.) Mayra Aguiar 2.) Moira De Villiers 3.) Maria Swan & Vanessa Chala Women's +78Kg 1.) Beatriz Souza 2.) Idalys Ortiz 3.) Sydnee Andrews & Brigitte Carabali

Sarajevo European Open Results - Day 2 Men's 81Kg 1.) Jarne Duyck 2.) Lukas Wittwer 3.) Botond Toth & Lukas Vennekold Men's 90Kg 1.) Tim Schmidt 2.) Toni Miletic 3.) Adam Borchashvilli & Guy Gurevitch Men's 100Kg 1.) Nikola Pljevaljcic 2.) Oliver Barratt 3.) Ruslan Nasirli & Boris Georgiev Men's +100Kg 1.) Marvin Belz 2.) Mircea Croitoru 3.) Wesley Greenidge & Vito Dragic Women's 70Kg 1.) Alina Lengweiler 2.) Aleksandra Samardzic 3.) Gioia Vetterli & Frieferike Stolze Women's 78Kg 1.) Emma Reid 2.) Jovana Pekovic 3.) Petrunjela Pavic & Vicky Verschaere Women's +78Kg 1.) Sara Maric 2.) Mahboubeh Barbari Zharfi 3.) Larisa Ceric

FIG World Challenge Cup - Paris Results Men's Pommel Horse 1.) Max Whitlock: DD 6.900 Ex 8.550 Total: 15.450 2.) Rhys McClenaghan: DD 6.400 Ex 8.500 Total: 15.100 3.) Edoardo de Rosa: DD 6.400 Ex 8.600 Total: 15.000 Men's Rings 1.) Courtney Tulloch: DD 6.200 Ex 8.500 Total: 14.700 1.) Salvatore Maresca: DD 6.200 Ex 8.500 Total: 14.700 3.) Vinzenz Hoeck: DD 6.100 Ex 8.550 Total: 14.650 Men's Floor 1.) Koga Hiramatsu: DD 5.900 Ex 8.800 Total: 14.700 2.) Benjamin Osberger: DD 5.600 Ex 9.050 Total: 14.650 3.) Luke Whitehouse: DD 6.900 Ex 7.850 Total: 14.650 (Penalty -0.1) Women's Vault 1.) Alexa Moreno: DD 5.400 Ex 9.000 & DD 5.200 Ex 8.550 Total: 14.075 2.) Georgia Godwin: DD 5.000 Ex 8.800 & DD 4.800 Ex 9.100 Total: 13.850 3.) Coline Devillard: DD 5.400 Ex 8.850 & DD 4.2 Ex 9.150 Total: 13.800 Women's Uneven Bars 1.) Melanie de Jesus dos Santos: DD 6.300 Ex 8.400 Total: 14.700 2.) Rebecca Andrade: DD 6.400 Ex 8.200 Total: 14.600 3.) Kaylia Nemour: DD 6.600 Ex 7.500 Total: 14.100

In the much anticipated pommel horse showdown between Max Whitlock and Rhys McClenaghan the bragging rights went to Whitlock. He took gold with a score of 15.45 against McClenaghan's 15.1. Whitlock upped his degree of difficulty to 6.9 (against 6.8 in qualifying) whilst McClenaghan had D score of 6.6 (up from 6.4 in qualifying). Historically I think McClenaghan has offset a lower degree of difficulty by outperforming on the execution but he wasn't able to do that today with Whitlock scoring 8.55 against McClenaghan's 8.5. With both athletes looking close to their best, the pommel horse is shaping up to be a great competition when the World Champs come around.

PanAmerican/Oceania Continental Championships - Day 1 Men's 60Kg 1.) Matheus Takaki 2.) Joshua Katz 3.) Michel Augusto & Jonathan Charon Men's 66Kg 1.) Julien Frascadore 2.) Orlando Polanco 3.) Juan Hernandez & Willian Lima Men's 73Kg 1.) Daniel Cargnin 2.) Arthur Margelidon 3.) Magdiel Estrada & Gilberto Cardoso Women's 48Kg 1.) Mary Dee Vargas Ley 2.) Edna Carrillo 3.) Natasha Ferreira & Maria Celia Laborde Women's 52Kg 1.) Larissa Pimenta 2.) Paulina Martinez 3.) Jessica Pereira & Tinka Easton Women's 57Kg 1.) Christa Deguchi 2.) Rafaela Silva 3.) Jessica Klimkait & Brisa Gomez Women's 63Kg 1.) Katharina Haecker 2.) Prisca Awiti Alcaraz 3.) Hannah Martin & Maylin Del Toro Carvajal

Sarajevo European Open Results - Day 1 Men's 60Kg 1.) Yam Wolczak 2.) Lior Rafailov 3.) Ariel Shulman & Enzo Jean Men's 66Kg 1.) Sam Hall 2.) Islam Rahimov 3.) Biagio D Angelo & Giuseppe De Tullio Men's 73Kg 1.) Nariman Mirzayev 2.) Naim Matt 3.) Eric Ham & Leonardo Valeriani Women's 48Kg 1.) Ellen Salens 2.) Gemma Maria Gomez Antona 3.) Lisa Dengg & Helena Grau Women's 52Kg 1.) Ana Viktorija Puljiz 2.) Leonie Gonzalez 3.) Lea Metrot & Roza Gyertyas Women's 57Kg 1.) Andjela Samardzic 2.) Lisa Grabner 3.) Romi Dori & Ophelie Vellozzi Women's 63Kg 1.) Melodie Turpin 2.) Miriam Boi 3.) Nadja Bazynski & Amanda Zuaznabar-Torres

In a surprising move, GB Cycling have confirmed a squad for the European Championships at the end of the month. I think this will be the first time since 2019 that have entered a squad: Men's Squad Ethan Vernon - Road Race Luke Rowe - Road Race Connor Swift - Road Race Ben Turner - Road Race Mark Stewart - Road Race Jake Stewart - Road Race Sam Watson - Road Race Josh Tarling - Road Race and Individual Time Trial Not the strongest squad that GB could have sent but at least they are taking part. It is unlikely that it is going to make big difference to their overall ranking points total with Ethan Vernon being the only ranking rider involved. He was in good form in Tour of Britain though and if he could get a top 5 finish, that would be a great result. If things went well for Josh Tarling, there is a chance he could dislodge Fred Wright as the 8th counter for GB but to do that he would need to win the ITT and score in the road race. Women's Squad Elinor Barker - Road Race and Individual Time Trial Anna Henderson - Road Race and Individual Time Trial Alice Barnes - Road Race Claire Steels - Road Race Pfeiffer Georgi - Road Race Beckie Storrie - Road Race That's a pretty strong squad from a ranking points perspective with Henderson, Steels and Georgi all counting. In addition, Anna Shackley is also in the Under-23 squad. Assuming all four of those riders finish safely in the road race and Anna Henderson is able to replicate her World Champs form in the ITT, a top 5 finish in the world ranking begins to look a lot more likely.

Ultimately, the Victorian Government defaulted on a validly entered contract, so it was always likely that they were going to have to pay substantial compensation when they decided to cancel. The compensation is actually to be paid across 3 organisations - Commonwealth Games Federation, Commonwealth Games Federation Partnerships and Commonwealth Games Australia. Although the breakdown is not being made public right now, the assumption is that the lion's share will go to CGF and CGFP. This will be to compensate from the loss of revenue/sponsorship etc. from the cancellation but there would be no reason why this money could not be used to support a new host. With regards to India - there were initial suggestions that they could be interested in stepping in as replacement and that may yet happen. Despite the points you raise, ironically the biggest factor in favour of India stepping in as hosts would be to maintain those key Indian sports on the schedule and in particular, ensuring that shooting remains in the Commonwealth schedule. As you say, Indian officials were not happy that shooting was not on the programme for Birmingham but it shouldn't really have been a surprise to anyone that this was going to be the case - the pistols used in shooting events have been banned in the UK since the Dunblane school massacre. As for Canada, they're not on the hook for any compensation because they didn't drop out of hosting - Alberta, after exploring whether or not to bid decided not to proceed. Now that the question of compensation has been settled, the CGF focus will turn to finding an alternate host. They will be making the argument that hosting a games does not have to cost billions of dollars but it does need "mature" hosts to come forward i.e cities that have existing facilities in place, don't need major infrastructure upgrades to be made and are willing to make pragmatic decisions.

Women's squad was announced earlier this month after the designation selection event was held at the end of August. There are no great surprises: Jessica Gadirova Alice Kinsella Ondine Achampong Georgia-Mae Fenton Ruby Evans This is pretty much the same squad as the 2022 WC with the exception of Ruby Evans who will be making senior team debut. The DSE was won by Gadirova on a score of 54.55 - 0.649 points down on the score that won her the all-around bronze medal last year. It is perhaps slightly ironic that she actually outscored her 2022 WC results on all of the apparatus except floor. Alice Kinsella took second place on 53.15. Overall this is down around 2 points on last year but worth pointing out that she didn't go for big routines - her degree of difficulty was down 0.3 across most of the apparatus. Rounding out the top three was Ondine Achampong with 52.3. Interesting decision to take Ruby Evans - no disrespect to her but she didn't seem to excel on any individual apparatus so perhaps she is going more for the experience rather in expectation that she will be called on to take part.

That'll explain it then

Safe to assume they're just very slow to update - the Olympic ranking hasn't been updated since the Polish Challenger event in early August so doesn't even include the results from World Champs either.