RussB

5 hours ago, mpjmcevoy said:

Wasn't aware until today that Stapley is in the odd position of being eligible for GBR right now - but NOT for these Olympics because he started the Paris process in Australian colours. however both Stapely and Milner look solid candidates for the future. Given Yee also has at least 1 if not two more cycles in him, the men's cupboard is not as bare as I feared a few months ago. Waugh and Fullager, I suspect, will step up post Paris on the distaff side.

 

Personally, I'd take Dickinson, a competent super sprint relay lead and he proved his credentials as a pilot today

Dickinson really put a big claim on his spot today...whoever we take as to have the super-dom role for Yee to make sure they can drag him to the front pack on the swim bike

Both the women’s 800m and men’s 1500m look like being utter box office in Paris.

Keely looked majestic today, much better tactics against Mora.

Keely and Josh with huge wins! PBs for Neil Gourley (4th) and Jake in 5th too. Tactics in Paris are going to be so interesting. Jakob might just have to lead it out and hope he can out toughen Josh or else can see both Brits out kicking him if it’s relatively slow.

To compete for the gold in the individual, we need to deploy the 3rd member as a domestique to break up the race on the bike (i.e. put Beaugrand into difficulty). To do this Coldwell is the best bet if she is content to play the team role for GTB and Beth.

7 hours ago, Epic Failure said:

Only a +2.5 wind. With that time, I was expecting something closer to a +4 wind!

 

That roughly translates to about 9.93 in no wind. That's super impressive.

I completely missed this one off my radar....another potential gem in the US collegiate system. Add another sub 10 runner into the relay for the summer!

1 hour ago, Epic Failure said:

Ah, cycling's favourite injury strikes again.

Not a medical expert but doesn’t sound like she has broken the collarbone, rather a hairline fracture ? Obviously very unwelcome news for her prep but don’t believe this puts her participation at Paris in question.

On 5/17/2024 at 1:46 AM, Epic Failure said:

The Dutch will go all out on the mixed medley. Their men aren't that strong, so that is a much better bet for them than either the men's 4x4 or the individual 400 is. The women have more time to rest. Bol would have a first round the day after if she does the hurdles rather than the flat 400m, but frankly she could jog around that and still qualify.

 

The US are likely to field a "less than first choice' team, but the team that they field is still likely to be strong enough to win gold.

 

I don't think Poland's men are good enough at the moment.

 

If GBR were go full bore at the mixed, I think they, the Dutch and the US would be the guaranteed medalists, in one order or another. I'm not sure that any other country has the depth to match them.

 

The question is just going to be whether GBR does that, or whether they believe that a slightly weakened team might still be good enough to challenge for the podium and that by doing so they might increase chances elsewhere in the individual events (thinking MHS as the most likely, given his recent championship performances).

 

Basically, the question becomes can we persuade our athletes to adopt a James-Guy-in-Tokyo mentality?

 

Obviously all this is subject to form/fitness. If Anning doesn't carry her college form through the summer, our chances are diminished a chunk I reckon, even with the depth on the women's side.

I agree with all of this. Don't think there is another squad out there with the depth across all 4 legs. Anning will make such a difference if she is able to maintain this form through to Paris. Is it at all possible that Dina is considering throwing her hat into the ring? Very much a long shot but she proved she can run a pretty strong relay split earlier this year. My gut feeling is MHS won't be jeoparidising his individual chances by doing this relay.

30 minutes ago, Epic Failure said:

AHW ran today in at Montreuil. 45.76.

 

The men are bronze medalists from the Worlds last year, so they absolutely should be in the medal conversation. Not to the same extent as the women, but they are definitely in with a respectable shot.

 

What we need on the men's side is a couple of guys in the 45 lows. Not close enough that they qualify in the individual 400m but not far away so that they are still providing respectable relay splits.

I’m still not sure what the strategy is going to be by all the big teams as far as the mixed goes. You could make an argument that GB could contend with Netherlands / Poland / USA depending on how the big hitters manage their schedule.

45.76 by Alex is not awful for a season opener but like you say 45 flat would be very helpful to the men’s relay hopes.

7 hours ago, kungshamra71 said:

How ironic it is that on the most polarized and divided contest of all time, the most neutral nation in the world wins? 
 

I would prefer Ukraine to win (best song of the show to me), or Croatia (best entertainer, and clearly the best for the public), but I can live with Nemo winning.

To me it feels like last year where Loreen won it because of jury and the most popular for the public ended up second.

 

I don’t think Joost would win to be honest, but I do think it’s ridiculous this whole desproporcional punishment he got, especially with a song about united Europe and with such a good message at the end, but oh well, he made some dangerous comments in a contest sponsored by an Israeli company so it was not a surprise that they kicked him out.

 

I’m also proud of Iolanda and yet another top 10 for Portugal 

He wasn't DQ for the comments, but for a threatening gesture to a female photographer backstage despite agreed rules that he wouldn't be filmed after his performance (as he can be emotional afterwards). Not sure at this point if he did more than push the phone out of the photographer's hands. Either way, it just seems like a complete overreaction and symbol of the society we live in unfortunately.

And no Netherlands was never winning due to the lack of jury support for the song. The juries actually voted on their semi final performance in the grand final and originally gave them 58 points (a mere 307 behind Switzerland).

5 hours ago, Epic Failure said:

Obviously if someone else shows top form during the season (AHW or Rio Mitchum being the best options, Davey next so), that would make the decisions easier.

 

 

That's interesting, I didn't have the schedule to hand but with the men's starting the day after the final its an interesting conundrum for MHS in particular. I'm not sure how strongly the men's quartet will be in the conversation for medals. The one I'm keeping an eye on socials is Tobias Harris. He ran a great split at the world relays (45.2) and there are positive signs of continuing improvement. I think AHW starts their season this weekend so will be interesting to see where he is at. 

Like you say on the women's side it is far deeper and more competitive. Yeargin might well be given at least one run in the mixed relay or Pipi.

Charlie Dobson with a 44 mid building on the form at the world relays. 
 

does anyone on here have some info or educated guesses on what Team GB are likely to do with the mixed relay?

a team of MHS Dobson Anning and Nielsen / Ohurougu is looking a little spicy at this stage in the year. Obviously issue will be the timetable and all 4 I suspect will want to run the individual and team relay too.

47 minutes ago, Cmon Mary said:

Do you have a source for this?  I couldn't find anything myself that supported this.  

There are many of us on the forums that would have had a little giggle at this question

Great winner to the contest, absolutely

delighted for Switzerland and Nemo for a well deserved win. 

contest was pretty ugly to watch as a fan with all of the tension backstage, and then obviously the events leading to the DQ. Awaiting the fall out but EBU has not come out of this at all well.

2 hours ago, Epic Failure said:

I don't think Keely would get in our relay squad without a substantial drop anyway and you would think she's probably more focused on her main event this summer. I'd be surprised if we didn't see her at trials though, she's always seemed a "racer". And it's not far from Leigh to Manchester.

 

My comment about Phoebe wasn't specifically directed at you, it was just a general thing that I always worry about young athletes that make this kind of breakthrough.

 

Obviously we (and the rest of British sport by the headlines etc) are all super excited about her. I just hope that she's got a good group around her. Similar to Blocksidge in the pool - obvious talent but giving them time to develop without pressure will hopefully bring long term rewards for both them as an athlete and us as fans. If that is Paris, great. If it is Rome or Lima, also great.

A sub 1m 58 clocking at 17 and essentially without a pacemaker (ok 300m of pace setting) is startling. Fingers crossed she can develop in her own time with a good team around her. Trials is going to be incredibly stressful for her but I'm very keen to see how she does. Clearly talented!

6 hours ago, Epic Failure said:

Not just a PB but she's gone to #3 all time behind only Christine Ohuruogo and Kathy Cook. Only a tenth away from breaking Christine's British record. 

The big step forward has happened! Very excited for the women's 4x4 relay this summer; If we can have Amber, Victoria, Laviai and Nicole in shape the quartet could be very dangerous

My personal favourite by far is Switzerland this year - its a fabulous musical composition to my ears anyway!

Looking forward to the shows, lots of good entries this year and it is genuinely wide open (between 4 in my book at least) 

5 hours ago, Epic Failure said:

Disagree. Davey was smart. Everyone else charged off and died. Even if the gap on the inside hadn't opened he had room to move out.

 

That was always the weakest of our 5 teams. Both Dobson and Young would be with MHS and Davey in the first choice team of those selected today (both AHW and Brier would be on past form but neither were selected today). Getting the job done was the only thing that mattered and they did that.

I’m not sure I agree on the top 4 at the moment.

MHS and Dobson would seem pencilled in but beyond that Young was really bad today and we didn’t see Haydock Wilson. I was also impressed with Toby Harris today doing a 45.2 to get us to the front while Matt died a bit at the end of his leg.

GBR women will be looking at this event in Paris very intently - expect the first choice 4 would be: Anning, La. Nielsen, Ohurougu, and Yeargin/Pipi.

Great performance by Adelaike splitting 49.4 after already doing a 400m earlier in the night - insane.

Excellent work by the 4x100 girls, 42.33 is a very solid time without Dina and Daryl

Just now, Rafa Maciel said:

Neither Asher Smith or Neita were in the squad selected to go to Bahamas so this is probably their strongest team available. 

Any ideas why? Given both are running very well at the moment, this would strike me as a "you have to turn up and compete meet"?

Women's 4x100m team seems to be missing our big guns of DAS and DN: Philip, Lansiquot, Williams, Hunt

this would be far more fun if you could mix up the order of genders like you can in the mixed medley swimming relay

Just now, Rafa Maciel said:

Agree on Young - he was just too far back and it had a knock on effect for Pipi's leg. Dobson got them back in it and perhaps Nielsen made a tactical error when she caught up to the Belgian - I think if she had held on her shoulder a bit more, she may have had enough to get past her on the final straight.

 

Can't see how they stick with that lineup for tomorrow though. 

Honestly Nielsen made another big tactical error coming off the final bend, she went wide as if she was thinking she was going to have a go at Ireland, rather than keeping the Belgian boxed in on the curb. It might have made the difference with the metres saved and making her go the long way round

well that was terrible. Brodie Young gave the team far too much to do. Pipi's leg did not look too good either. Massively disappointing

I can only find it on Eurovision sport - I’m hopeful for GB across the relays - the mixed lineup 

young

pipi

dobson

lavaiai Nielson