Rafa Maciel

Pal Arinsal Mountain Bike World Cup Women's Short Track 1.) Alessandra Keller - 20:36 2.) Evie Richards - 20:42 3.) Puck Pieterse - 20:53 With that win, Keller takes the lead in the overall world cup standings. Men's Short Track 1.) Luca Schwarzbauer - 20:13 2.) Nino Schurter - 20:14 3.) Jordan Sarrou - 20:15

Women's Final - Standings After Fencing 1) Alessandra Frezza - 245 pts (Ineligible) 2) Rebecca Langrehr - 235 pts 3) Kerenza Bryson - 230 pts 4) Elena Micheli - 230 pts (Quota) 5) Mariana Arceo - 230 pts 6) Olivia Green - 225 pts (Quota) 7) Laura Asadauskaite - 225 pts (Quota) 8) Michelle Gulyas - 225 pts (Quota) 9) Jess Varley - 225 pts 10) Zhang Mingyu - 225 pts 11) Kim Sunwoo - 225 pts 12) Anna Maliszewska - 215 pts 13) Ilke Ozyuksel - 205 pts 14) Salma Abdelmaksoud - 200 pts 15) Emma Whitaker - 200 pts 16) Laura Heredia - 200 pts (Quota) 17) Alice Sotero - 200 pts (Quota) 18) Blanka Bauer - 185 pts

Semi-Final B Result 1) Elena Micheli - 1130 pts (Quota) 2) Mariana Arceo - 1129 pts 3) Kim Sunwoo - 1126 pts 4) Ilke Ozyuksel - 1125 pts 5) Blanka Bauer - 1124 pts 6) Olivia Green - 1124 pts (Quota) 7) Kerenza Bryson - 1123 pts 8) Alessandra Frezza - 1123 pts (Ineligible) 9) Rebecca Langrehr - 1120 pts Ozyuksel, Bauer and Bryson run their way into a qualifying position - Bauer with a particularly impressive 10:38 - 15 seconds faster than the rest of the field.

Semi-Final B after Swimming 1) Elena Micheli - 517 pts (Quota) 2) Kim Sunwoo - 517 pts 3) Alessandra Frezza - 509 pts (Ineligible) 4) Mariana Arceo - 508 pts 5) Rebecca Langrehr - 507 pts 6) Olivia Green - 505 pts (Quota) 7) Haydy Morsy - 505 pts 8) Veronika Novotna - 489 pts 9) Kim Sehee - 489 pts Kerenza Bryson had a ridiculously poor swim - clear 3 seconds slower than the rest of the field. She drops from 5th down to 11th but is still only 1 point adrift of a spot in the final so all to run for in the final event.

And we're back in the action with semi-final B's bonus fencing round Semi-Final B 1) Alessandra Frezza 24V - 245 pts (Ineligible) 2) Haydy Morsy 22V +6 - 241 pts 3) Rebecca Langrehr 22V - 235 pts 4) Kim Sunwoo 20V +10 - 235 pts 5) Kerenza Bryson 21V - 230 pts 6) Elena Micheli 21V - 230 pts (Quota) 7) Mariana Arceo 21V - 230 pts 8) Olivia Green 20V - 225 pts (Quota) 9) Kim Sehee 18V - 215 pts Kim Sunwoo the big gainer in the bonus fencing round and moves up into top 4. Veronika Novotna won a couple of bouts to move within 1 point of top 9 place.

To be clear, I am not arguing against continental quotas, simply how they are currently being applied in some sports.

As the saying goes in a British quiz show... "I've started so I'll finish".... Semi-Final A - Result 1) Salma Abdelmaksoud 2) Michelle Gulyas (Quota) 3) Alice Sotero (Quota) 4) Jess Varley 5) Laura Heredia (Quota) 6) Laura Asadauskaite (Quota) 7) Emma Whitaker 8) Zhang Mingyu 9) Anna Maliszewska

I have to admit, I still don't see why there has to be continental representation at the Olympics across every boat class - it doesn't really do anything to expand the sport as Oceania quotas always go to Australia or New Zealand and the American ones, although spread out more, still tend to be won by the bigger nations.

Semi-Final A - After Swimming 1) Elodie Clouvel - 525 pts 2) Michelle Gulyas - 515 pts (Quota) 3) Marie Oteiza - 507 pts (Quota) 4) Zhang Mingyu - 503 pts 5) Jess Varley - 496 pts 6) Laura Asadauskaite - 495 pts (Quota) 7) Alice Sotero - 494 pts (Quota) 8) Salma Abdelmaksoud - 493 pts 9) Anna Maliszewska - 487 pts

Semi-Final A - After Bonus Fencing Round 1) Elodie Clouvel 22V +4 - 239 pts 2) Marie Oteiza 21V +2 - 232 pts (Quota) 3) Elzbieta Adomaityte 20V +2 - 227 pts 4) Laura Asadauskaite 20V +2 - 227 pts (Quota) 5) Michelle Gulyas 20V +2 - 227 pts (Quota) 6) Jess Varley 20V +2 - 227 pts 7) Zhang Mingyu 20V - 225 pts 8) Anna Maliszewska 18V - 215pts 9) Kim Unju 17V - 210 pts No change in the top 9 - Salma Abdelmaksoud biggest gainer winning 4 bouts to pick up an extra 8 points and she moves into 10th place, just 2 points behind Kim Unju.

Last night the fencing round for women's semi-finals took place: Semi-Final A 1) Elodie Clouvel 22V - 235 pts 2) Marie Oteiza 21V - 230 pts (Quota) 3) Elzbieta Adomaityte 20V - 225 pts 4) Laura Asadauskaite 20V - 225 pts (Quota) 5) Michelle Gulyas 20V - 225 pts (Quota) 6) Jess Varley 20V - 225 pts 7) Zhang Mingyu 20V - 225 pts 8) Anna Maliszewska 18V - 215pts 9) Kim Unju 17V - 210 pts Semi-Final B 1) Alessandra Frezza 24V - 245pts (Ineligible) 2) Rebecca Langrehr 22V - 235 pts 3) Haydy Morsy 22V - 235 pts 4) Kerenza Bryson 21V - 230 pts 5) Elena Micheli 21V - 230 pts (Quota) 6) Mariana Arceo 21V - 230 pts 7) Olivia Green 20V - 225 pts (Quota) 8) Kim Sunwoo 20V - 225 pts 9) Kim Sehee 18V - 215 pts

I would tend to agree with the Dutch coach - on the men's side, Belgium are absolutely best in Europe but on the women's side, Netherlands and Germany have been head and shoulders above the rest. Although Belgium have steadily been improving, I was expecting the final to be Netherlands against Germany.

He only started his season last month due to achilies injury and that was just his 4th race of the year so hardly surprising that he didn't have the speed endurance that he needed to run back to back races at a global championship. Absolutely nothing for him to be ashamed of.

(and by extension ) really seem to be struggling since the retirement of their keeper Maddie Hinch.

Josh Tarling continuing his great time trial form by taking stage 2 of the Renewi Tour (Formerly Benelux Tour) - winning by 15 seconds over Tim Wellens. Whilst it is not the strongest field, it is still great progression for him and it should also take him into first place in the tour overall. If he can keep this kind of form up over the next year, it is going to be difficult for the GB selectors to leave him out of the team for Paris.

Don't 18 go through to the final? There are only 14 additional quotas up for grabs here and with 3 already allocated, that would suggest that whoever finishes last in the final could miss out - unless it is one of the already qualified athletes.

Mexico are the bronze medalists from this event last year so wouldn't regard them as too much of an outsider.

Seems to be a higher scoring event than last year's WC - last year nobody broke 100 points in qualifying.

Just checked the schedule for the rest of the competition - definitely no riding in the semi-finals

So that means guaranteed quotas for and right? - the quotas will go to all 9 A finalists and the winner of the B Final (assuming continental representation is met) In semi-final 1, based on qualifying times, should come through quite easily - they were almost 2 seconds quicker than the rest of the field. Likewise, should also be able to come through easily enough. The last spot in the final is going to be the really interesting one - just 0.1 second separates the qualifying time of and . Add to that and were only a further 0.5 seconds behind so it could go to any of the 4. In semi-final 2, and have a second advantage over the rest of the field so should qualify. possibly start as marginal favourite for the 3rd spot as they were 0.5 second faster than

Hmm - Not sure what happened there. Looks like they posted an update for group C because I see Ismail is now listed as qualified whereas previously she was below the cut. Also Germany now showing 3 qualifiers and Poland and Turkey down to only 1 but all the changes seem linked to group C

Well they are at least guaranteed that - there are only 10 entries

Netherlands and Germany are definitely a cut above the rest of the European teams but don't think there is that much of a difference between Belgium and England but we'll see on Saturday when they are in the 3rd place play-off

But with only 5 quotas available the Eight is probably the most difficult boat class to qualify for - despite the fact that there are so few entrants.

I think it goes down to 18 for final