Epic Failure

European team selected - https://www.britishswimming.org/news/latest-swimming-news/olympic-champions-and-rising-stars-headline-european-championships-team/ Along with the 1st and 2nd place Qs, Dean, Shanahan and Cohoon make the team, if prove fitness. Jones, Melbourne-Smith, Daodu and Ward also. No place for Morgan, Blocksidge et al. Seems a team that is relay focused more than individual, especially in the discretionary spots. Will be interesting to see after the Jnr team and the HN Commies teams are announced who will do what.

Shepherd is already there for the 4x100 relay, so they could choose to put him in the 4x2 as well - as well as putting him in the mixed free relay as well, which I presume will be the lowest priority of the relays there). With Blockside, i think it more comes down to which 'double' makes most sense from a taper point of view - which is obviously different for every athlete - as well as which provides her with the best opportunity to develop. She's already been to 3 Euro Jnrs and the selection policy for that comp quietly discourages athletes from doing 3 or 4 editions of it, albeit not outright banning it. Personally I think that, regardless of her form, there is some merit in getting her acclimatised to the senior ranks, in the hope that she will develop further moving forward towards LA. But I don't think there's a 'wrong' answer with her. Or indeed others.

Jimmy G made it on the 200 free as well as the 400. If memory serves, the Euros allow 4 per nation to enter but only 2 can qualify out of the heats, so I wouldn't be shocked if both Dunks and McMillan get to swim it as well. Similarly with Shepherd, Whittle et al in the 100. Obviously we don't know swimmers' plans yet, but assuming that they want to take as close to the 40 as possible (not guaranteed) and also assuming the athletes want to go to the Euros (also not assured, with Commies being close and Euro Jnrs being an option for some), I'd presume the following stand a decent chance of being added: Tom Dean, Katie Shanahan - missing through injury/coming back from injury. Their past records make them both a no brainer for me assuming fitness. Amelie Blocksidge, Max Morgan - two juniors who would probably benefit from the senior exposure more than going back to the Jnr ranks. And to those I'd personally add Evan Jones, Matt Ward, Charlie Hutchison, Blythe Kinsman, Anna Morgan and Ciara Schlosshan. Provide a variety of cover for relays, as well as depth in some of our weaker events.

I'd have more criticism for the Aquatics GB standards if there wasn't another major competition this summer in the CGs. There's no guarantee that every swimmer who qualifies for Paris will definitely choose to take part. Blocksidge might have missed the Euros time but she's still potentially going to make the England team. She also still has the 400m final tonight (and presumably the 800m on Sunday) to offer other alternative ways to qualify for Paris. Secondly, not making the time doesn't preclude the selectors picking her, unless we get 40 swimmers qualifying on time (which is probably unlikely at this point, barring a very strange set of results in the remaining events). It just means they aren't obliged to select her. a 40 person team is also a pretty decent size, and comparable to previous iterations of the Euros. Finally, it's also worth noting that the 2024 Euros were not long before the Paris Olympics, so the field was not full strength. The 16.22 she did this week would probably get her into the final at a full strength Euros, but not on a podium.

Interesting today to see neither Colbert nor Shanahan in the 400IM. Katie has been injured, so that makes sense, but less understandable from Freya, unless she just doesn't fancy it (I'm not sure I'd want to be going up against McIntosh and Yu Zudi to be fair ). Still, Smith seems to have more than stepped up in their absence. Not Blocksidge's finest hour but she did get the Commonwealth Games consideration (and obviously the Jnr time as well). I wonder if we'll see her stick at the distance free in the pool or move more to open water. Mildred's form is promising, especially for the 100m/medley relay (the fly spot currently being the obvious 'open' spot on that team. Duncan ever the supreme competitor though. Peaty looks happy and the times are super impressive for the old man of the event after a year off. He must start wondering though when Morgan/Nowacki will overtake him - they are both quicker at age group level than Adam was. Solid from Cox but that women's 100 back feels like an event in a bit of a big lull, which doesn't help for the medley relays. Litchfield consistent as ever. You would think he's someone who would definitely prioritise the Commonwealths over the Euros, because no Marchand in Paris in the former.

On the subject of the women's 100m free specifically, it's worth remembering the context. We don't have a strong history in this event. We only had 15 women ever go under 55s before today. We only had 5 ever under 54s before today. To have two women break 54 for the first time to take that latter number to 7, and two more break 55 shows that depth is being built. By my reckoning Freya Anderson was the only one of the finalists that didn't break her PB today. Getting the relay qualified and getting the athletes potentially getting an individual swim (if the selectors agree) should help things to continue moving forward. Rome wasn't built in a day and all that. And obviously the Commonwealth selections as well.

Agreed @Surreal. We know from the various years of experience that Aquatics GB will require whatever time they set to be done in the final of trials for that year's competition, so what athletes are doing this year matters only for their goals for this year. It's also worth remembering that not only is there a Euros team to be picked, but there are multiple CG teams to make, as well as a European Jnrs (as well as the para swimmers obv). I'm trying to keep track of who is doing what (which is complicated because i don't always know who is English, who is Welsh, who is from Jersey etc ). But at a rough estimate I reckon 22 able bodied swimmers did enough today that they could get a call up for one team or another this summer. Not shabby for day 1.

All the sessions are being streamed on the Aquatics GB youtube channel, with the A finals also on the Beeb. A good first morning. The women's 100 free requiring a 54.82 to make the final is a BIG step forward for that event and also the prospect of them getting a relay team in champs. Last year a 55.7 got you into the final. Prior to these champs only 12 female British swimmers had a PB quicker than that in history. So to get 8 in one morning with a final to come this evening is encouraging. Obviously the men's 100 breast is another interesting one, with AP going up against the whippersnappers in Morgan and Nowacki.

I don't think the IOC particularly does love it when one nation dominates events in that way. But I suspect (with no evidence except my own conspiracy theory ) that they tolerate it a bit more when the nation is not also dominant in a lot of other sports. Germany has been on a downward trend in the Summer Games since unification and that, coupled with their advantages in Winter Sports (both natural and in funding etc) over many other nations, probably means they are allowed a bit of leeway. I suspect the same leeway is given to, say, Norway. I think if these events were all being dominated by the US and China, they might be quicker to limit it to 2 per nation.

I completely agree that funding for skating should be massively increased. Although I guess in these more austere times there isn't the political will to support the building of ice rinks etc. You need to get that system built first and then you can justify it afterwards with the results. Getting the National Cycling Centre built led to so many other opportunities. There's also no real reason we couldn't become more competitive at things like ice hockey. Especially as it is a freaking excellent sport. I don't have a problem with snowboarding/skiing to a degree. We do have some pedigree in the x sports side of things. So I get that more than the traditional alpine skiing events.

If we come away from these games having won 2 more golds than any previous games, with our best ever performance in cross country and with several 4th places (5 at last count I think) AND then UK Sport respond with anything other than a funding boost, I will actually cry. It's not rocket science, we've shown that despite our natural disadvantage of not really having snow, we can be competitive in a bunch of events. Cutting the funding would not improve that.

Yeah, I don't understand that decision, if that's what she did. She would have needed a 96.5 from jump B (if my maths is right) to get bronze. Whereas improving jump A to somewhere around an 87-88 would put all three medals in the reckoning. The only thing I can think is that she just didn't trust that she could as reliably pull that jump A off in any circumstance. Which I imagine happens. All athletes must know what they think they can do repeatedly/reliably. All speculation of course.

But presumably there is still an execution score element? Which is why Tabanelli scored higher than Muir for doing the same jump? She did the jump more 'cleanly', at least in my inexpert eyes.

She didn't have to take the underscored 84. She could have tried to improve that. She took the risk that the chances of improving Jump A was more likely than improving Jump B. Which is usually because an athlete is more comfortable performing one type than the other. Whilst I don't personally like judging only events, I do think making athletes show they can execute multiple tricks is better. Even though it hurt today (Muir would have got silver if it was just the 'best' single jump).

So I'll admit to not being an expert on this, but I would presume that the additional rotation ups the difficulty and then grab/landing takes points off. So had it been perfectly executed, she might have scored higher than that. Which is why Tabanelli scored 1.25 more than her for performing the same trick, but better. Also - and again, I'm no expert - my understanding of the landing scoring is that it only significantly matters if you actually touch the ground with a body part that isn't your skis. Whilst it looked close, from the replays I saw, she didn't actually touch it. And I presume the judges have a better camera options than I do. Either way, she didn't medal so it doesn't really matter one way or the other.