Epic Failure

The difference is that Dickinson and Brownlee had a literal H2H shootout in Poland, which Dickinson won, over the distance that the relay will take place. If British Shooting have done something similar, fine. But I'm unaware that has happened.

The difference is that the divers at least had a straight fight to decide who got spots AND some of that was decided after multiple competitions where we won spots ie had Cheng not got the 10m spot at the Euro Games, Spendolini-Sirieix would have got a quota at the worlds this year with her performance. The men's 3m is slightly harsher, I'll grant. There's also the complicating factor that only 2 divers could compete at a WC, so there wasn't equal chance for the divers to earn the quotas. But Bale has had his own chances for to get a quota and hasn't got them. Feels really harsh to ditch Bargeron.

Oh, that makes sense. I was thinking that both might be trying for the OQT so that if Penny didn't get it then MSH could instead...

If I were Tkachuk, I'd be pissed that Ekman-Larsson is just daydreaming as McDavid slots it away... Happy for Hronek to get his payday. Right now I think all parties are happy with how that deal has worked out.

Interesting to see Oleksiak and Harvey are entered in Sette Colli this weekend. Presumably trying to take care of the OQTs, as there doesn't seem to be a wider Canadian team out in force?

The entry lists for the other "European Champs" this weekend (Sette Colli) are out - https://www.federnuoto.it/settecolli-2024/settecolli-2024-documents/9471-settecolli-ip-2024-entry-list-elenco-iscritti/file.html Between the various national competitions, the actual Euros and Sette Colli, we'll see most Europeans swimming this week. Who wants to be in charge of creating a spreadsheet to amalgamate the times into one super Euro-Colli-Trials result?

I think Angharad is less likely, simply because there are other nations/swimmers in the mix with proven repeated fast times done in recent years. King, Meilutyte, and Tang have all been sub 1:05 in the last 12 months, and then there's the likes of Aoki, Smith and Efimova who have fast times historically. Without Kaylee though, Freya goes into the IM as the fourth fastest in recent years and the non-Summer two ahead of her have only done that time on one occasion. Doesn't mean that Angharad *can't* medal, just that it would be a slightly bigger leap for me.

I know. My post was in defence of him (and others) using the surface change reason.

I don't dispute that. My point was in the context of people discussing getting more players to the Olympics. I'm relatively fine with the system as is myself. I was just discussing the potential ways of increasing Olympic turnout if that's what people wanted.

I'm not pointing the fingers at anyone in particular, or any sport. I was talking in relation to the existing discussion in the thread about the topic of 'imports' and helping nations grow. Often ex pats and children of expats help the first wave, and if the sport is developed properly, that can encourage subsequent generations of locals. It's rare that a sport will just start gaining roots in a country without that outside influence.

Importing on its own never works. But it can work if there are other structural improvements made. That second point is the bigger issue in regards to league. It's barely a functioning sport anywhere outside of Australia these days. Union has done a better job growing. We'll see which example cricket follows. I will say that cricket has seemingly done a reasonably solid job in recent years, especially in T20. Even Scotland and Ireland are leaps and bounds above where they were only 10-15 years ago.

I agree that the game between them should have been the deciding factor but in the absence of that being possible, RR is the least bad alternative. They both played the same opponents, England's performances in those games collectively was stronger than Scotland's. It's no different than going through a group in football on goal difference.

I hope they take advantage of this opportunity and...sizzle in Paris.

I agree about the ranking points issue but I think the bigger issue is the fact that the tours themselves continue to hold events during the Olympics. If we want tennis players to treat the Olympics as more important than normal events, then we should treat them as more important. Don't schedule a hard court event in DC the same week. It's literally tempting players to make the 'professional' choice.

I think the mixed is one of the great games of call my bluff in athletics this summer. Outside of the US, no team is strong enough to guarantee a final spot with a weakened team. So it comes down to who values what and which athletes want to take what risks vis a vis their individual events. We'll know a bit more when the teams are selected but I still think there'll be some last minute 'shock' decisions.

I mean, the change of surface aspect *is* a thing and happens sometimes in non-Olympic years, especially for those who are grass or clay specialists. Hell, Rafa Nadal is doing the opposite - he's skipping grass this year precisely because he wants to do the Olympics without changing surface. I'm sure some of it is because the Olympics might be less special for some tennis players than it is for other sports. But the change of surface thing is a real phenomenon.

The results of the Aussie and US trials should give Freya confidence that she can mix it with them. Obviously Summer will be away and gone but neither Forrester nor Grimes looked that threatening. Obviously there is time for them to get back to their 2023 form but I'm more optimistic about Freya's chances than I was a month ago.

The 10 we're sending to Belgrade isn't even quite a B-team. We're arguably sending a stronger team to the Euro Jnrs in Vilnius than we are here. The Euros were decided by British Swimming that it was the 3rd priority meet for the summer.

I mean we've never really had much sustained field success. We've had just over 1 person per decade for my life time - Whitbread, Backley, Edwards, Idowu, Rutherford - in terms of sustained success. Of the 121 medals won at WCs, only 15 are field medals. Of the 210 Olympic medals, it is only 35.

It's the rankings at the end of June, i believe. So if Ireland were to stay where they are, then yes they would get the next spot that way if Bangladesh win tonight. I'm not sure what impact (if any) the results this week will have on the rankings though.

As long as we have the "increased standards" swimming-style model, I don't think it matters much what else we do. That policy is absolutely crippling GBR participation at worlds and Olympics in field events. And without the visability of those athletes, it's tough to see where the potential stars of the future are going to come from.

If the Dutch want a challenge, let's get them to try and move this statue of old Otto in Hamburg...

I'd like there to be a change in mentality in the ICC and for them to insist that anyone coming north to play England also play at least 1 of Ireland and Scotland whilst they are there. Only way the game will ever grow is more chances and exposure for smaller nations.

I don't see Lally getting the distance unless she gets another competition in Ramona. Kenneth Ikeji in the hammer is in roughly the same situation as Norris - both about 30cm short. Bekah Walton in the javelin needs to find about 1.5m. She's been consistently improving over the last couple of years, so it's not outside the range of possible. We've got a couple of promising female TJers and LJers but I think the Q is likely to be beyond them this year. Nicole Yeargin (400m) ran 51.32 earlier today, so she's not too far away. Seamus Derbyshire (400m H) ran a flat PB today but would need a substantial hurdles PB to challenge that mark. Holly Bradshaw (PV), Eugene Amo-Dadzie (100m) are a couple of other older athletes looking for the standard.

A small amount but much less unfair. Rain ruined England's chances of a win in that game too! At least this way both sides completed the same number of games.