Rafa Maciel

My initial take on the state of quotas after the completion of qualifying.
 
Criteria 1 Qualifiers:
  
 
Criteria 2 Qualifiers:
        
 
Criteria 3 Qualifiers: (1 Individual All-Around)
  
 
Criteria 4 Qualifiers: (Named Quotas)
 Kaylia Nemour
 Pauline Schaefer-Betz
 Alexa Moreno
 Filipa Martins
 Aleah Finnegan
 Bettina Lili Czifra
 Alba Petisco
 Anna Lashchevska
 Lena Bickel
 Hilary Heron
 Caitlin Rooskrantz
 Sona Artamonova
 Lihie Raz
 Lucija Hribar
 
Criteria 5 Qualifiers: (Named Quotas) 
Vault:  Csenge Maria Bacskay
Uneven Bars:  Meolie Jauch
Balance Beam:  Ana Perez
Floor:  Cassandra Loustalot

My initial take on the state of quotas after the completion of qualifying.
 
Criteria 1 Qualifiers:
  
 
Criteria 2 Qualifiers:
        
 
Criteria 3 Qualifiers: (1 Individual All-Around)
  
 
Criteria 4 Qualifiers: (Named Quotas)
 Kaylia Nemour
 Pauline Schaefer-Betz
 Alexa Moreno
 Filipa Martins
 Aleah Finnegan
 Bettina Lili Czifra
 Alba Petisco
 Anna Lashchevska
 Lena Bickel
 Hilary Heron
 Caitlin Rooskrantz
 Sona Artamonova
 Lihie Raz
 Lucija Hribar
 
Criteria 5 Qualifiers: (Named Quotas) 
Vault:  Csenge Maria Bacskay
Uneven Bars:  Meolie Jauch
Balance Beam:  Ana Perez
Floor:  Cassandra Loustalot

Time to start cheering for the French team. Gymnastics is the kind of event that you really want the host nation to be involved when it comes to the Olympics. 
 
Allez les bleus! (or whatever the gymnastic equivalent is) 

and  have their quotas. 
 
 come up just short - 0.17. Now looks like  will take the last quota. 
 
 

Think we can now confirm  qualified for Paris. 

There are 4 Sub-Divisions still to take place with 10 teams left to compete.
 
So my predictions:
 
 &  enter the competition in Sub-Division 7. Canada already qualified so  should be confirmed at the end of Sub-Division 7.   &  are in Sub-Division 8. Germany probably have best chances to qualify in this group, but I don't see them getting into top 5. Expecting to be able to confirm  and  as qualified at the end of Sub-Division 8.   &  enter competition in Sub-Division 9. I think Japan will make it to team final so expect to be able to confirm  and  as qualified at the end of Sub-Division 9.  and  are the last teams to enter in Sub-Division 10. Both should have enough to make it into the top 12.  &  should be confirmed with probably  and  taking the final team quotas.   

finish qualification with a score of 166.130. That is just over 1.5 points higher than they achieved in Liverpool and 1.7 points higher than they managed at this year's Europeans. Pretty much all of the gains can be traced to improved scores on Balance Beam. 
 
In terms of the individual athletes, Jessica Gadirova is currently sitting in 3rd place in the All-Around with 56.932.  That is over 2 points higher than she scored last year and is higher than the score she achieved when crowned European Champion earlier this year. Again, she posted a big gain on balance beam but she scored higher across all 4 apparatus. She is pretty much nailed on to qualify for individual all-around final with good chance she will be in the final group. 
 
Her 14.400 on Floor should see her into the apparatus final as should her 14.416 on vault. With a 14.000 on balance beam she should also have a chance there but it is worth saying that the scores this year seem to be running higher than Liverpool. 
 
I am not expecting any of the other gymnasts to qualify for individual finals although Alice Kinsella should be in the individual all-around despite having a fall on beam. She may also have outside chance of making the floor final - her score of 13.633 would have been enough last year - but I think she is likely to come up just short this time. 
 
Ondine Achampong and Georgia-Mae Fenton were both solid enough whilst Ruby Evans will probably be a bit disappointed with how things went - she was solid enough on floor, but had a fall on vault. 
 
Overall, I think the team will be happy with how things went - there were no major mistakes and they will be very much in contention for a medal on Wednesday but it is difficult to see how they can catch USA unless something goes seriously wrong. 
 
 

My initial take on the state of quotas after the completion of qualifying.
 
Criteria 1 Qualifiers:
  
 
Criteria 2 Qualifiers:
        
 
Criteria 3 Qualifiers: (1 Individual All-Around)
  
 
Criteria 4 Qualifiers: (Named Quotas)
 Kaylia Nemour
 Pauline Schaefer-Betz
 Alexa Moreno
 Filipa Martins
 Aleah Finnegan
 Bettina Lili Czifra
 Alba Petisco
 Anna Lashchevska
 Lena Bickel
 Hilary Heron
 Caitlin Rooskrantz
 Sona Artamonova
 Lihie Raz
 Lucija Hribar
 
Criteria 5 Qualifiers: (Named Quotas) 
Vault:  Csenge Maria Bacskay
Uneven Bars:  Meolie Jauch
Balance Beam:  Ana Perez
Floor:  Cassandra Loustalot

Time to start cheering for the French team. Gymnastics is the kind of event that you really want the host nation to be involved when it comes to the Olympics. 
 
Allez les bleus! (or whatever the gymnastic equivalent is) 

Time to start cheering for the French team. Gymnastics is the kind of event that you really want the host nation to be involved when it comes to the Olympics. 
 
Allez les bleus! (or whatever the gymnastic equivalent is) 

Time to start cheering for the French team. Gymnastics is the kind of event that you really want the host nation to be involved when it comes to the Olympics. 
 
Allez les bleus! (or whatever the gymnastic equivalent is) 

Time to start cheering for the French team. Gymnastics is the kind of event that you really want the host nation to be involved when it comes to the Olympics. 
 
Allez les bleus! (or whatever the gymnastic equivalent is) 

Time to start cheering for the French team. Gymnastics is the kind of event that you really want the host nation to be involved when it comes to the Olympics. 
 
Allez les bleus! (or whatever the gymnastic equivalent is) 

The only consolation for them is that they have decent chance to secure the 3 individual spots this week.  

and  have their quotas. 
 
 come up just short - 0.17. Now looks like  will take the last quota. 
 
 

Think we can now confirm  qualified for Paris. 

and  have their quotas. 
 
 come up just short - 0.17. Now looks like  will take the last quota. 
 
 

So Majka didn't manage a top 8 finish - he came home in 22nd, 1:30 behind winner Wout Van Aert. He did however finish ahead of both Eritreans but he'll only net 5 points. 

Not impossible but unlikely - a 400 point swing at this stage of the season is difficult to see, but if it is going to happen then the journey starts today:
 
Coppa Bernocchi -  Rafal Majka takes on  Henok Mulubrhan and Natnael Tesfatzion. As a ProSeries event, there are 200 points available for the win but at a minimum, Majka needs a top 8 finish and has to finish ahead of both Eritreans. That would net him 50 points.  
 
3-Oct: Tre Valli Varesine -  Rafal Majka is again scheduled to take part and at least on the preliminary entry list, there are no riders from  or . Again, it is a ProSeries event so 200 for the win so Majka needs top 8 finish. 
 
3-Oct: Binche-Chimay-Binche- No ranking riders from  taking part so it will be down to the performance of  Biniam Girmay to determine the impact. As a Class 1 event, there are 125 points available for the win. If Girmay gets a top 4 finish and Majka hasn't scored in his 2 races, it becomes very difficult for Poland to overtake. 
 
Ultimately, the race is going to come down to the level of activity from the ranking riders and at the moment, there doesn't seem to be a huge amount scheduled for  although the start lists for some of the events are incomplete. So their best chance of moving up the ranking comes at Il Lombardia - a top 5 finish from Kwiatowski and suddenly things look a lot brighter for Poland. 
 
 

There are 4 Sub-Divisions still to take place with 10 teams left to compete.
 
So my predictions:
 
 &  enter the competition in Sub-Division 7. Canada already qualified so  should be confirmed at the end of Sub-Division 7.   &  are in Sub-Division 8. Germany probably have best chances to qualify in this group, but I don't see them getting into top 5. Expecting to be able to confirm  and  as qualified at the end of Sub-Division 8.   &  enter competition in Sub-Division 9. I think Japan will make it to team final so expect to be able to confirm  and  as qualified at the end of Sub-Division 9.  and  are the last teams to enter in Sub-Division 10. Both should have enough to make it into the top 12.  &  should be confirmed with probably  and  taking the final team quotas.   

There are 4 Sub-Divisions still to take place with 10 teams left to compete.
 
So my predictions:
 
 &  enter the competition in Sub-Division 7. Canada already qualified so  should be confirmed at the end of Sub-Division 7.   &  are in Sub-Division 8. Germany probably have best chances to qualify in this group, but I don't see them getting into top 5. Expecting to be able to confirm  and  as qualified at the end of Sub-Division 8.   &  enter competition in Sub-Division 9. I think Japan will make it to team final so expect to be able to confirm  and  as qualified at the end of Sub-Division 9.  and  are the last teams to enter in Sub-Division 10. Both should have enough to make it into the top 12.  &  should be confirmed with probably  and  taking the final team quotas.   

There are 4 Sub-Divisions still to take place with 10 teams left to compete.
 
So my predictions:
 
 &  enter the competition in Sub-Division 7. Canada already qualified so  should be confirmed at the end of Sub-Division 7.   &  are in Sub-Division 8. Germany probably have best chances to qualify in this group, but I don't see them getting into top 5. Expecting to be able to confirm  and  as qualified at the end of Sub-Division 8.   &  enter competition in Sub-Division 9. I think Japan will make it to team final so expect to be able to confirm  and  as qualified at the end of Sub-Division 9.  and  are the last teams to enter in Sub-Division 10. Both should have enough to make it into the top 12.  &  should be confirmed with probably  and  taking the final team quotas.   

Nothing much can be done to develop these sports by an outside agency like lottery funding. The way to grow them is to do what ice & field hockey have done - have a strong domestic league & club sides capable of winning matches in European Cup-type competitions.  There’s no chance of having a strong national team without strong club teams.

Sporting Giants was done for London specifically with a view to identifying athletes for rowing, handball and volleyball I think, but it proved that that type of scheme can work - it introduced Helen Glover to rowing and look what she has achieved since. 
 
I'd struggle to identify any talent schemes that are currently running nationwide in GB. Too many of our athletes are found by luck of location and stumbling upon an open day event.  

Snowshoe World Cup 
 
 
 
Men's Olympic Cross Country
1.)  Jordan Sarrou
2.)  Nino Schurter
3.)  Marcel Guerrini
 
 
Women's Olympic Cross Country
1.)  Laura Stigger
2.)  Loana Lecomte
3.)  Marta Berta