Rafa Maciel

Second only to China, reinforcing GB's position as the second global diving power - admittedly a very long way after China - which, for those of us with memories is about as likely as GBR being a global power in Sumo.
 
This result, remember achieved with no Daley, and no individual Laugher. Big positive for me is that Goodfellow, Williams and Kothari clearly positioned themselves as potentially world class. Big disappointment, obviously was Andrea, though Toulson did a fab recovery job that will keep her in the conversation for the spot along with the brilliant EG performance by Cheng. Andreas ceiling is much higher, and she's going, Equally, A fit Laugher is going, Houldon not quite having his 2022 form. Haslam probably comes back into the conversation given Houldon's struggles, but Laugher/Goodfellow are big favourites for the two spots, if the second spot is achieved.
 
I suspect a full house will be achieved in Doha, which, again, in historic terms remains astounding.

One thing to be aware of - the 2026 European Athletics Championships are already in Birmingham, so if there is a UK Saviour bid, my guess is a '4 corners' proposal with the Games shared between the four home nations and possibly even the crown dependencies (road cycling in isle of man, triathlon in jersey) - the athletics, swimming and track cycling would imho be in London the swimming in Glasgow, the diving in Edinburgh, the cricket, sevens and netball in Cardiff, and the bowls, boxing and possibly shooting in Belfast. The rest of the sports would then fit around that, with perhaps one or two of the Arenas involved - possibly the Gymnastics to Liverpool as they have hosted the worlds and know the plan....
 
The CGF will be desperate to get to the centenary and have an Alberta, Canada games as a kind of homecoming. I think it entirely possibly they wind it up after that as a neat ending.
 
The Brits will not, however, take the European Games seriously if the CWG falls. Their issues with the EG go deeper.

But remember folks, the quality of the competition has gone down because there were no Russians allowed to compete 

Great result for  Julia Caron to take out  Chan Wai Ling to make it through to the main draw of the women's individual epee. Caron qualified in 73rd from the preliminary round so it's a pretty solid result for her. 

But remember folks, the quality of the competition has gone down because there were no Russians allowed to compete 

But remember folks, the quality of the competition has gone down because there were no Russians allowed to compete 

But remember folks, the quality of the competition has gone down because there were no Russians allowed to compete 

Not a great look for  Amarissa Toth:
 
Tennis star is accused of 'a new low for sportsmanship' after her 'disgusting' acts on the court led to her opponent having a panic attack | Daily Mail Online

The Indian federation are really desperate to have those shooting events back on the schedule 

The Indian federation are really desperate to have those shooting events back on the schedule 

The Indian federation are really desperate to have those shooting events back on the schedule 

Not a great look for  Amarissa Toth:
 
Tennis star is accused of 'a new low for sportsmanship' after her 'disgusting' acts on the court led to her opponent having a panic attack | Daily Mail Online

Not a great look for  Amarissa Toth:
 
Tennis star is accused of 'a new low for sportsmanship' after her 'disgusting' acts on the court led to her opponent having a panic attack | Daily Mail Online

So, it turns out that you can't play softball in the wind and rain! This kind of begs 2 questions: 1.) How did  manage to put together such a decent team and 2.) Why did they choose Ireland as the host for Group A.
 
Only 1 match played today with  beating  5-0 in a match that included an 8 hour rain delay and as a result, Australia will finish the group stage in 3rd place behind  and .
 
The remaining group matches have been cancelled as they were irrelevant to the final group positions and we move straight on to the playoff matches tomorrow. 
 
 v  with the winner booking ticket to next year's finals. The loser to play the winner of second playoff: 
 
 v 
 
 

Why would they qualify in cycling BMX?
 
They are in a qualifying spot for 1 place on the road for men and 2 for women but they're unlikely to make the top 10 ranking that they would need to get a spot in BMX.
 
 

And then she knocks it out the park in round 4  an 8 point cushion for a place in the final

Taking these in order:
 
1.) The British women are focusing on the World Triathlon Championship Series and Flora Duffy is nursing injury and has been off the circuit for a while (Patellar Tendinopothy) For Switzerland, they had Nicola Spirig in the past but think she's retired. Nevertheless, they are still likely to qualify 2 women to Paris although unlikely they will challenge for the podium.
2.) Blummenfelt took time away from Olympic distance events after Tokyo and stepped up to the Ironman. He came back to the Olympic distance in May of this year. As for the British men - Yee was 3rd and remains a strong favourite to challenge the podium in Paris. Others have asked about the wider British team earlier in the thread but basically Brownlee is trying to hang on to Paris. As we won the relay quota last year we're guaranteed 2 quotas for the men - which is the same as we achieved in Tokyo
3.) Would raise a couple of caveats about reading too much into the performances this weekend. This event was a sprint series so multiple races over shorter distances. Not everyone likes or is suited to the format (which may also help explain some of the absences highlighted). In terms of the relay, France and GBR didn't contest the event (GB were there but with a B squad) so again, there's nothing to suggest that the result in Hamburg give any indications of what we can expect in Paris. 

I've got to say it is very weird watching the athletes after they finish their routines and are sitting on the couch waiting for their results. Am so used to seeing ice skaters or gymnasts sitting waiting for their scores and they're all smiles and making those annoying heart shapes with their hands - because they know whether they've performed their routines well or not. But here the swimmers have absolutely no idea what their score is going to be. Some of them have had two thirds of their difficulty score removed and they're left sitting on the couch going "WTF?"
 
Although on the other hand I can't help but laugh at the look on the coaches faces as they sit down to console their athlete and realise they've hit a wet patch on the couch. 

I've got to say it is very weird watching the athletes after they finish their routines and are sitting on the couch waiting for their results. Am so used to seeing ice skaters or gymnasts sitting waiting for their scores and they're all smiles and making those annoying heart shapes with their hands - because they know whether they've performed their routines well or not. But here the swimmers have absolutely no idea what their score is going to be. Some of them have had two thirds of their difficulty score removed and they're left sitting on the couch going "WTF?"
 
Although on the other hand I can't help but laugh at the look on the coaches faces as they sit down to console their athlete and realise they've hit a wet patch on the couch. 

Acro will be part of the Olympic routines in Paris, for the 1st time. So, they will count in the combined score for the OQ

These are only quotas for the synchro events and are separate from the individual events so this doesn't impact Italy's individual quota

3 from 3 for  
 
All the more impressive that GB hadn't won a women's diving medal before yesterday and now we have 2 in 2 days.
 
Just hoping that the platform guys don't screw it up by failing to medal now. 

Really solid performance by the  pairing in the women's 3m synchro event to qualify for final in 3rd place in what is arguably our weakest synchro event. By coincidence, we also qualified in 3rd for men's 3m and women's 10m and went on to win silver in both - here's hoping we can make it 3 from 3 later today 

You must be concerned by their performance in the men's 10m platform synchro then given that they qualfied second.

The feeds seem to be a lot more stable today - managed to get through entire women's 3m synchro without breaking up once