Epic Failure

It could be worse, he was doing the interviews in Doha and the poor foreign athletes had to deal with his sometimes poorly worded questions in a second language!

She's still got to drop another couple of seconds to match the podium from last year. But she's definitely trending in the right direction.

Jimmy's scratching the 100m Free final tonight, which does suggest that he's even more focused on the fly and 200m free than ever. He's obviously a superstar for what he's done for GBR over the years already - his reaction to the gold in Tokyo is hands down one of my favourite GB Olympic moments of all time - but I'm not convinced that unless he's become Caleb Dressel overnight that it will get us atop the podium. If everyone swims to their potential, Xu and Pan are better than Morgan/Richards. Qin hasn't yet beaten Peaty at his best but he's on the rise and Peaty is not yet back to his absolute imperious best. I'm not going to call that one either way right now. So Jimmy would have to absolutely clobber them in the fly. I think he can beat them, but I'm not sure by enough. The US is the same - Armstrong or Murphy are both ahead of Morgan. Peaty ahead of Fink and the freestyle probably a tie. Dare Rose is probably a match at least for Jimmy. The great unknown there is Dressel obviously. Obviously, there's a bunch of things that could change - an injury for any of the teams could change things drastically. And form is never a guarantee, not to mention the constant risk of DQs. GBR is absolutely capable of standing atop the podium. But it isn't something I'd be putting money on right now. However, we've definitely looked closer as a result of this week than we did even a month ago!

Yeah, I'd have the US and China currently dueling out for gold with GBR currently heading the pack for bronze. There's obviously lots that could change before the sumemr but that's where I'd put my money if I were a betting man right now.

I think there was just a problem with the graphic on the stream. According to the live results, she's part of a 3-way tie for 6th on 25.87. So she'll be in the A final no matter what if those results are correct. edit - confirmed by the pdf for the official results just posted now. She's in.

B final has McMillan, Burras, Mildred and J Litchfield. Outside of about 10 countries, that would be a relay team in itself to be proud of! Honestly, you wouldn't want to rule any of those guys out. Could go anywhere. I'm reasonably confident that Richards will be at the top but aside from that it could go anywhere. Should be a great watch. In related news to previous discussions - Kieran Bird was 20th in 49.93. Nothing crazy about that...but it was a PB by over 0.75 of a second. If he can replicate that kind of improvement in the 200m he could get into the discussion for that relay (maybe not in the final 4 but in terms of cover). Lots of ifs there obviously.

Both Burras and McMillan miss the final. Took 48.68 to make the final. British men's 100m Free is on fire right now. For perspective, that time would have been top 25 at both the last Olympics and the Budapest worlds last year. And that's the 8th fastest Brit.

Burras in danger of missing the final with one heat to go.

Bit harsh on Dawson surely? Today is the first time that she's broken the minute since her injury and she's done it twice. She's taken about 0.7 off the time she did in Doha. Steady progress and she obviously has the potential to go much faster if she were to get back to her 2021 form. I'm much more disappointed in Cox and Harris. They are both way off what they have been previously. Harris at least showed up well in the 200m free. The medley calculation will come down to whether someone can get close on the fly. I think the other 3 strokes *should* be fine

Our first British record of the week! So excited to see what the medley can do over the summer. We could field a team that consists of the current British record holders in all 4 strokes. Marshall's underwaters are fantastic. The 200m is going to be another dogfight. Greenbank has always been better at that distance so he's going to be a threat to the others.

Blocksidge's time is still astonishingly good for a junior, let alone a 14 year old jnr. She's almost 40 seconds inside the Euro Jnr standard. Hell, she was inside the Jnr standard for the 800m with the split from that 1500m.

Weird that the men's 100m back which has been a relative weak spot for GBR over the years is suddenly alive and kicking. Jonny Marshall's swim was strong but Oli Morgan just blew it out of the water. It's huge for the relay implications as well.

AP did both heat and final of the mixed in Tokyo. He only didn't do the men's medley heat. So it would hardly be a crazy increase in his workload to add one more race to his schedule, especially as there's no 50m event at the OGs. I think they will want to take Wilby if they can. But my point was that what happens this week in other events will determine whether they can or not, just like with Bird. If Wilby doesn't get the 200m time and someone else does, that person will be going as APs backup. Likewise, if Bird is able to be 5th or 6th in the 200m free, he puts himself in a better place. I just don't agree with the assertion that he knows he isn't in consideration. There's a lot of swimming to happen this week before we know the answer to that.

I think that's overstating things. They'll absolutely consider his case - and Wilby's - if there are not 30 better options. He's just worried that there *will* be 30 better options. He's predicting what might happen based on the likely results through the rest of the week. That's all. He's being supportive of his teammates in a weird way - he thinks that more of them will do a better job than he has done!

I think Bird's disappointment can be put down to the fact that he's given the selectors an excuse to *not* pick him. Rather than guaranteeing himself a spot as he looked like he might, he's now entirely in the hands of the selectors. That's never a position you want to be in. The unspoken part of everything, of course, is that Bird is, on entry time, the 11th fastest 200m free swimmer. If he can get himself up to, say, 6th or 7th in that race he could make an argument for himself as relay cover there. I think there's still a lot that could change this week. Burras's form is somewhat unknown, for example. He could easily be left off the plane if he doesn't show well this week. Personally I think that *if* they take Anderson they absolutely will be expecting her to pull heat/final relay swims. I'm not sure that the teams will be strong enough without her.

I think that people are overthinking the 30 swimmer limit. The maximum number of individual qualifiers we could take theoretically would be 56 - 2 in each of the 28 events. In practical terms we won't get close to that - between some events likely not getting a swimmer in - like the men's 400m free - or by people likely doubling up - from today you would bank on MacInnes, Wood and Colbert all almost certainly taking another spot, amongst others. So unless we start getting some *really* unexpected results, I doubt they will have to make many tough decisions. I think Bird and Wilby are still in with a reasonable shout of making the 30. As is Anderson.

Given that the women's 200m free is in the same session as the men's 200m free, the latter is likely to distract people from other events that evening, at least from a British point of view.

Le boo. Not that it likely matters from a reasonable shot of a medal I suppose. But there's always the "everyone else crashes" chance in BMX racing.

Don't we have 2 spots in the women's anyway - 1 for Bethany for winning the WCs last year and another for being in the 6-10 nation range?

Also, to try and answer some questions raised earlier in the thread - Amelie Blocksidge has not only the Olympics in mind but presumably also the Euro Jnrs. Presumably the 1500m tomorrow will be the main focus but getting solid times in the other events for the Jnrs is sensible planning as a fall back plan if the Olympic plan doesn't work out. She would likely be on the 4x200m team there, so that would explain why she did that event today. And I have no inside knowledge, but I would be amazed if they didn't take Anderson if she is close to being fit in the summer. Even if it ends up only being as a relay swimmer. And depending what happens this week, there may still be a place in both the 100m/200m free if nobody else beats the time. We'll see.

I'd be surprised if they take more than 30. Whatever the rights and wrongs, British Swimming (or Aquatics GB as I suppose we should now call them lol) have been cutthroat. They want to take medal contenders and not much else. With the selection criteria the way that it is, it would have to take some truly outstanding performances from unexpected sources to change their mind. For anyone interested, a decent morning for the Juniors - already 9 people have posted a time that will get them considered for the Euro Jnrs, including 5 in the 100m breast.

I'd be surprised if we were that low. We've been somewhere between 60-70 at each of the last 3 games and I'd be surprised if we were not somewhere around that again. Obviously it wouldn't take much to drop into the 50s but dropping down to even 47 would be a substantial drop off from recent occasions.

Freya Anderson missed the 200m Free this morning, as probably expected. Will see later on whether there's still a spot for her available in the event - Freya Colbert confirmed that she won't compete in the 200m even if she has the time, as it will clash with the 400IM. Good to see Medi Harris competing, given the unfortunate news she has recently had re family bereavement. Peaty throwing down the current fastest time in the world in the heat this morning, looking better than he has at any point since Tokyo. With Qin's form last year he's still the underdog but he's definitely put himself right back into contention.