Epic Failure

ruin the fairytale for . They had their chances to be fair. Some strong death bowling from Aus probably the difference.

In terms of the BBC, I love London obviously and Barcelona because it is the first games that I remember properly. And, you know, they used Barcelona for the music. How can anyone not love that? Still not a patch on the Beeb's Manchester Commonwealth Games use of This Is The One. That was inspired.

Scotland have still got 2 perfectly reasonable shots. Either Namibia knocking off England (much more likely in a shortened game) or beating Aus tomorrow. Far better for the game if one of those were to happen than a rain decided conclusion.

Not yet they aren't. The cutoff point before the match is abandoned is still about 90 mins away. But it's looking likely.

We always tend to start relatively slowly and looking at the schedule I'd expect not much different here. Day 1 and 2 are often relatively quiet days for GBR medal gathering. On the subject of which country will have the best day one, obviously the US and China are always going to be strong favourites for that, but that makes them boring choices. But I fancy Australia to do well. They've got medal shots in both cycling events, the rugby, diving and all 4 swimming events - obviously some of those medal shots are much stronger than others (Titmus is much more likely than, say, a male cyclist) but they are all possible without being crazy.

But as you point out in your first sentence, it's the comparison between the men and the women that's the killer. The men are a perfectly good team with lots of medal chances. But the women are on the next level above that.

It says a lot that a disappointing championships still sees us 3rd on the medal table! I fully expect that in Birmingham we'll be back on top. That time for the women's relay would have beaten the NRs of all bar USA, Jamaica, East Germany, Russia, us, Germany, France and Cote d'Ivore. Shows how impressive they were, even without Lansiquot.

I mean, it's possible that the selection was the best 4 available today and also a test to see form etc. Better to find out now that AHW might not be able to be relied on than in Paris etc. I guess I'm just a glass half full/see the positive type person. In better news, good work by the women's 4x100m. Dealt with the changes very well, and a sub 42 clocking is always good. Keeps us as most likely to prosper if something untoward were to happen to the US or Jamaica (or both).

Sure, but that point about other nations impressing has to be viewed in context as well. Not all of them have trials like we do. And performing here is great but if it means you peak too early and then don't medal in Paris, is it worth it? In both 2012 and 2016 we sent weakened teams to the Euros, and finished down the medal tables. Then at each Olympics we were the top European nation in athletics. Now obviously that could just be coincidence. But it could also be better planning. We'll never know for certain.

Yeah, he went 3rd to 7th because everyone else was faster than him! With all due respect to AHW, it's not his fault that he's not as quick as others countries runners. But that doesn't mean that his leg was actually worse! Davey overtook people but was overtaking people who were going even slower. It's always going to look a stronger leg. I'll openly admit that I don't have anywhere near enough knowledge about sport science to know what impact the workload of champs like this have on trials. It's only just over 2 weeks away. So I'm not willing to say that there's no detriment. The way that UKA have approached it does imply that *they* think there could be. I dunno *shrugs*

We have no info on an injury, but then we didn't have any info on Keely being ill until post race. Also, the splits for GBR were as follows: Harries - 45.78 Ohoize - 45.2 Davey - 45.6 AHW - 45.36 I want to see a team trying to win. But sometimes the best way to win is to time your effort (both in a race and in a season).

The last leg splits were all outstanding bar Haydock-Wilson. His was adequate (45.36) but everyone else was sub 45. So it wasn't so much him going backwards as everyone else going forwards!

What if they want to see what AHW can do? Maybe Charlie C is carrying a knock? Maybe they want him at full strength for the trials to see if he can qualify in the individual? Again, anything happening in Rome has to be looked at in relation to Paris (and the trials first).

With a clean run, sure. But doing this has meant that all 4 legs are different from the heats (in terms of handoffs). Will be a good test of how well drilled they are to deal with that many changes.

I mean, they were fairly clear ahead of time that this was a development meet for the relays.

Women's 4x100m is interesting - DAS - Henry - Hunt - Neita. Lots of change from the heats.

GBR going with Harries - Ohoize - Davey - AHW in the 4x4, so fair to say they don't really care whether they medal here.

Mondo will pay the price for his lack of vision.

50 is probably the bottom line expectation. Anything above 70 would be crazy. That being said, I'm waiting for us to start falling again. We've had a good run of summer games but the pessimist in me believes it can't last forever. As long as we never reach Atlanta levels, I'm good.

Order 66 is about the only way to stop Mondo. See how he would fare vaulting with the 501st firing at him...

I mean, obviously some degree of guesswork, but let's take the 4th and 5th fastest US runners on SB right now. For the women this year that's Aaliyah Butler (SB 49.79) and Isabella Whittaker (SB 50.17). For the men, that's Christopher Bailey (SB 44.42) and Johnnie Blockburger (SB 44.51) All 8 athletes (both ours and theirs) SB are also PB. Our top 4 beats that team by about 0.15s on SB/PB. The presence of Rai Benjamin and SML in the US list skews things slightly, as I strongly doubt either of them will be in the mixed. But even still, that makes it the 3rd and 4th best US this year basically being the equal of our best. Their depth is terrifying. I'm obviously oversimplifying because that doesn't take into account the fact that some people are better relay runners than others. The US aside, a full strength Jamaican team on full PB form would beat us although that relies on them being on that form *and* choosing to do that mixed relay. I doubt they will. Bahamas the same.

1 and 2 are definitely fixable, albeit not guaranteed. Eilish clearly just needs more miles in her legs. Whether she can get it in time for Paris is very debateable but the problem is pretty easy. She was saying coming into Rome that she was surprised that she was ahead of schedule. She did 5k yesterday, which would on its own be 10th in Britain on time. KJT is the same. You would hope that this was nothing more than an attempted cobweb blowing, so to speak. She realised that she wasn't at top form and if she did have a niggle, there's just no point in risking Paris even 1% for the Euros. Obv with the hept there is always the jeopardy of injury but certainly nothing to worry about right now. Jemma's kick will be less important in the 800m unless both Keely and Mu are injured. Because one of them will be trying to grind the others down. The only time it would be a problem would be if everyone lets Moraa dictate the tempo. It probably still won't be enough for Jemma but I'm not sure there's much more she can do. The relay is immediately fixable with something closer to a first team out - Azu and Hughes would be nailed on the first 2 legs. What the make up of the others is remains to be seen, but there's a perfectly likely possibility that none of the 4 in Rome will even be in the Paris squad. Jessie just looks past her best. Hopefully she'll prove me wrong, but no disgrace if she is. It happens to us all sooner or later.

Apologies, my lack of proof reading meant I said something I didn't intend. I meant to say that "that doesn't mean our athletes believe that their best chance of gold is the mixed relay". I'm sure they believe that they can/should medal and I'm sure they believe that they have a decent chance of gold. But MHS surely believes the same about his individual slot. The others maybe less so, but can they win without him? I'm not sure. I guess I'm just not as convinced as you that them going all in on the mixed is statistically more likely. Prior to 2022, sure, I'd agree. But MHS is absolutely a serious gold medal contender. Arguably right now he's the favourite.

I don't think anyone doubts that we have a good chance of a medal in the mixed 4x4 with our best team out. But that doesn't mean the athletes believe that, or believe that it is worth hurting their individual chances. Maybe they will have a different view going into Paris. But it's clear that these champs were always something of a test event and therefore were always likely to be a relative let down from a GBR point of view. I mean, just look at the list of people we're missing, all of whom are in the top 3/4 of an event in GBR this season, for one reason or another: Azu Hinchliffe Prescod Hughes NMB MHS Young Pattison Kerr Wightman Atkin Lansiquot Anning John Gill Muir KJT (effectively) That list includes many of both our individual medalists at the last 2 worlds, and many of our prospective relay teams. Then consider the athletes who might not be quite at their best because they are worried about trials, or who took a casual approach here ie only did one event when they might double in Paris etc. Finally, we're never going to be a country who wins masses of golds. And even if we put out our top 4 in the mixed, the US would almost certainly still beat it if they did the same.

What's Neita done to offend people?