Rafa Maciel

Really disappointing results within the team. The singles guys were always going to be up against it, but to only be able to manage 1 win across the 3 doubles disciplines should be a real source of worry as the window for Olympic qualification opens. They've got to be hoping for a major upturn in form pretty soon because based on their current world rankings, Team GB would struggle to qualify more than 3 athletes.

There's been a few withdrawals as a result of Covid cases on the Giro so far and I've heard suggestions that a lot of the teams/riders were worried and unhappy about the management of the descent from the mountain on Thursday or Friday where all of the riders had to use the cable car to get down but they were crowded in with the general public - no distancing and other than the riders, very few people wearing masks.

BBC now saying that Mae Muller did so badly because she was last in the running order and apparently there were sound problems. Totally ignoring the fact that the jury votes are based on the previous day's rehearsal performance. Let's just face it - it was an instantly forgettable song by an instantly forgettable artist. BBC thought they could recreate last year's success but it's like sleeping with twins - the second one is never lives up to hype of the first

The screeching sound in the background was the BBC executives now desperately ringing around trying to find a credible artist to headline their New Year's Eve coverage after Mae Muller limped home in second to last.

GBR no match for FRA on home soil so it's basically whoever wins the match between Fiji and Ireland that will now take the final quota.

So 2 of the 4 quarter finals are done and dusted. Doesn't look like Ireland were much trouble for Australia with the Aussies running out 17-7 winners. Fiji were able to pull it back in the second half of their QF against USA but came up short to finish 17-22. Ireland and Fiji will play each other tomorrow in the first of the 5th place semi finals. Now we have to wait a couple of hours for GBR against France. If GBR can pull off a win, they will favourite to take the final Olympic quota.

So Day 1 of competition is complete and there is only 1 round of pool matches to take place tomorrow. Pretty much everything has gone to form so far with the exception of Ireland who beat France 27-7. As a result, Ireland are looking pretty certain to finish in 2nd place in their pool. Big match tomorrow in pool C sees take on - the winner of that match wins the pool but with the way the results have gone in the other groups, I'm not sure whether it is in interests to win the pool. It's now looking like the quarter finals will be: v - Would assume that Australia would start as favourite. or v - If it is GBR v USA, it could be close, but GBR's poor track record against USA this season and the fact that they don't seem to be playing as well as they were in Hong Kong, means USA likely to edge it. Likewise, if it is Fiji against USA, it could go either way but USA have a 2-1 edge in the head-to-head stats this season. v or - This would become the all important quarter final because the likelihood is that the winner of this match takes the final Olympic quota. v or - Canada marginal favourites to take the quarter-final place but if they suffer a complete blow out in their final pool match against NEw Zealand then Japan could over take them. Either way, NZL run out comfortable winners.

Can I check that my understanding of the qualification criteria is correct: Period 1 runs until the 22nd June 2023 with the qualification ranking comprising 50% of points derived from the top 5 results from the period and the score from the 2022 Masters event in Jerusalem. The points total from period 1 will carry forward to period 2. Period 2 commences with the Ulaanbaatar Grand Slam on the 23rd June and the qualification ranking will comprise 100% of points derived from the top 5 results from the period and the score from the 2023 Masters event in Hungary which is scheduled to take place in August '23. Is that everyone else's understanding?

So bows out of the World Championships without a medal and after a pretty mediocre performance by our "star" names. But, by my calculations, I don't think we have lost any of our projected quotas either (and we may actually gain one when next rankings are released). Disappointing performances from Renshall and both girls in the 78Kg whilst Moorhead did what he needed to do in the 81Kg division. There were a couple of missed opportunities across the team - Petgrave should have been able to come through his first round bout as should Lele Nairne. Best performances came from Yeats-Brown in the 70Kg division to move us into a more comfortable qualifying position but was pleased that Lovell-Hewitt was able to take advantage of getting the nod for the squad by winning his first round bout.

Agreed - Renshall was pretty dismal but to be fair to her, in 8 tournaments within the qualification period she has been pretty consistent. She could have taken same decision as Chelsie Giles and just focused on the Masters event later in the year because she is sitting pretty safe in the qualification rankings. In terms of the other Brits, for the most part they are pretty comfortable in their ranking positions - indeed with Moorhead getting through to the round of 16, he has done enough to move into the last automatic qualifying position. If Jamal Petgrave can get through to the round of 16, he would also have a good chance of moving into an auto qualifying spot. That would in theory open up the potential of a continental quota. On the women's side, Chelsie Giles is safe at 52Kg (currently 4th) and Ranshall is safe at 63Kg (3rd in ranking). Despite Lele Nairne losing her opening bout this week, she is still comfortably within the automatic quotas at 13th - as you point out this weight also benefits from the return to form of Smythe-Davis who is not too far off the top 17 herself. We've not had their weight class yet, but think we're also well placed in the 78Kg with Powell sitting in 10th and Reid the equivalent of 15th. The only weight class where we could see GBR dropping out of the automatic spots is the 70Kg where Petersen-Pollard is ranked 17th but in theory she would possibly benefit from the continental quota freed up by Moorhead. Overall as we come to the end of the 1st qualifying period I still think we're likely heading for 5 women and possibly 2 men to qualify.

Day 2 of the WC saw no changes to the qualifying rankings in either the 66Kg or 52Kg divisions.

Does the FEI publish a separate Olympic ranking like the UCI and IJF or does it just use the rolling 1 year ranking like we will see with WTA/ATP when their qualification period begins in June?

A couple of good results for Team GB this weekend at the OKK Bike Revolution Chur event in Switzerland with Tom Pidcock and Evie Richards both winning to take maximum ranking points. That should see the men move Chile and possibly above Denmark into a tope 8 ranking which would give them 2 quotas for Paris. The women will probably close the gap on Brazil but wont have done enough to move up the rankings.

After Day 1 of the World Champs no major changes in terms of Olympic qualification ranking. A quick run of the numbers suggest that in the men's 60Kg division, Turkmenistan's Hakberdi Jumayev should move up into the top 17 and knocks Angelo Pantano of Italy out of automatic qualification - by just a single point. In the women's 48Kg Brazil's Amanda Lima moves into a qualifying spot and dislodges South Africa's Geronay Whiteboi. Additionally, Shirine Boukli replaces Blandine Pont as the highest ranked French athlete. Today also saw the first of the IJF's "neutral" athletes competing. Russia's Sabina Giliazova came, fought and lost in her first bout.

To be fair, I guess if it comes down to a choice between a crap performance in the individual with a great performance in the team event or a great performance in the individual and a crap team event, I assume you'd prefer the former rather than the latter.

Decent draws for a few of the Brits Charlie Young unfortunately drawn against Tal Flicker and if he makes it through that then would be competing against top seed Denis Vieru. Prediction - Out in the 1st round. Lachlan Moordhead should be able to overcome Bearach Gleeson for a round of 32 match up against Demourtsidis of Greece which could go either way. Prediction - out in last 32 or last 16. Jamal Petgrave is drawn against Tselidis of Greece in round one and will probably end his competition there. Prediction - Out in the 1st round. Harry Lovell-Hewitt is against Cuba's Liester Cardona. Any Cuban judoka is a threat and I think Liester will be too strong for Lovell-Hewitt. Prediction - Out in the 1st round. Lele Nairne is up against Italy's Capanni Dias. Could go either way but hopefully Nairne will be able to carry the day. If successful would be against Kosovo' s Gjakova in the round of 32. Prediction - Out in the round of 32 Nekoda Smythe-Davis is up against "neutral" athlete Kurbonmamadova. If she gets through that, then would potentially have one of the easier round of 32 matches against Qatar's Al-Badi. Prediction - Out in the round of 16 Lucy Renshall - Top seed so would like to think that she would be able to medal. Most dangerous risk in her section of the draw is probably Miku Takaichi of Japan. Prediction - Nasty feeling she will be out in the round of 16. Gemma Howell has a winnable draw against Delgado Frances for the right to take on Argentina's De Lucia. Prediction - Out in the round of 16. Katie-Jemima Yeats Brown - Up against Emilie Sook of Denmark in the first round and if successful would be against Moscalu of Romania in round of 32. Prediction - Out in the round of 32 or last 16 Kelly Petersen Pollard is also up against a Danish athlete - Laerke Olsen. She should be able to come through that she would be up against 7th seed Tsunoda Roustant of Spain. Prediction - Out in the round of 32. Emma Reid unlucky to be drawn against Portugal's 8th seed Sampaio so don't expect her to progress. Prediction - Out in the 1st round. Nathalie Powell just missed out on being seeded for the draw but will be up against Italy's Stangherlin. Could be close but hopefully Powell comes through that. If she does, good chance to get through to the last 16. Prediction - Out in the round of 16

What's an "Official Queen" - RuPaul?

Emma Raducanu's season could be over as she is undergoing surgery on both her wrists. F she's sensible, she wont try to rush back for the hard court season and instead, take as much time off as possible to build up her strength and stamina then when she comes back in the new year, step down to the ITF WTA 100K level events to get the match experience. Would assume that she would be well placed to get invitational quota for Paris as Grand Slam champion

Unfortunately I think the deadline for entries has already passed so the only way he would have been eligible to compete was if he had been named as a traveling reserve. Of course he shouldn't have been left off the team in the first place, as he had met British Judo's qualification criteria.

Would love to say I am surprised but Samuel Hall no longer appears on the entry list. It's becoming so common to now be a bit of joke - he's been listed as an entry on pretty much every GP and GS only to be withdrawn in the days before competition. Hall hasn't competed at 60Kg since September but his last bout at -66Kg was in March so difficult to put it down to an injury. At the start of the qualification period, you would have Hall down as one of the few men GBR would be targeting for Olympic Qualification but if he's going to make it on the team, he's going to need a stellar 2nd qualification period. GB Judo is another one of our national federations who are abysmal at promoting the sport domestically and providing updates to let fans know what is going on.

Anastasia Polikarpova (Women's -52Kg) is the first of the Russian "neutrals" to be removed from the entry list.

The big set piece event in May for the men's tour is the Giro D'Italia which starts at the weekend so thought it may be interesting to look at the potential impact the race will have on the rankings. Nation Points Defending Adjusted Points 19,608.59 0 19,608.59 12,771.14 560 12,211.14 12,087.89 52 12,035.89 11,098.64 987 10,111.64 10,935.36 60 10,875.36 10,484.51 564 9,920.51 9,674.62 488 9,186.62 8,962.19 272 8690.19 8,316.06 1,074 7,242.06 The table shows that both Australia and Spain will be defending significant points totals in the Giro. Based on the provisional entry list, the prospects for each nation look varied Belgium - Remco Evenpoel should be well placed to extend Belgium's lead at the top of the rankings. France - None of the ranking French riders look like they are taking part. Denmark - Both Mads Pedersen and Magnus Cort Nielsen are on the start list and, in the absence of French riders, they will have a good opportunity to move up to 2nd in the rankings. Spain - Like France, none of the ranking Spanish riders appear on the start list and with strong teams from both Slovenia and Great Britain in the race, Spain could frop to 6th in the rankings Slovenia - Primoz Roglic and Jan Tratnik should be able to do enough to elevate Slovenia above Spain. Great Britain - Half of our ranking riders are on the start list - Hugh Carthy, Mark Cavendish, Tao Geoghegan Hart and Geraint Thomas. Both Carthy and Geoghegan Hart are in pretty good form so collectively there is a good chance that GBR could overtake Spain and move into 5th place in the rankings. Netherlands - Thymen Arensman and Bauke Mollema would need to have a stellar event to move up the rankings, but will be looking to close the gap on the higher ranked nations. Italy - Unsurprisingly, half of Italy's ranking riders are taking part in the Giro and they will be hoping to close the gap on the Netherlands. Australia - Jai Hindley was the 2022 champion but is not defending the title so it is down to Simon Clarke, Jay Vine and Michael Matthews to fly the Aussie flag but they may struggle and ultimately there's a good chance that Australia will drop below Colombia in the rankings.

The results from the 3rd and final Nations Cup have now been included in the UCI Track Cycling rankings but it is a bit like going from comedy to farce. Last week I thought the reason for the delay was that the Olympic Ranking was only going to count the 2 best results from the Nations Cup series but this week's ranking is including all 3 results.

The entry lists for next weekend's first round of the world cup have been released and they make pretty poor reading for anyone who is a fan of the sport. There's no Team GB, no France, Italy, Australia, China or Poland. Germany have only entered the Men's Single Sculls and the Netherlands are only going for the Lightweight Women's Sculls. Add to that there's no USA or New Zealand - but looking at previous years, that's not hugely unusual. The depth in each event is ridiculously poor - the Women's Pair has only 5 entries listed and 3 of them are from Spain, whilst the Women's Quad only Ukraine and Switzerland.

With Adam Yates winning the Tour de Romandie, it's been another good week for the GB cyclists as they fight for a top 5 ranking to get the full team of 4 for Paris. I'm expecting them to net around 400-500 points in the next ranking release which should be enough for them to stay ahead of the Netherlands and would cut the deficit to Slovenia by around half.