Epic Failure

Think we can probably all agree this wasn't a vintage championships for us.
 
On the upside, UK Athletics selection policy was definitely a step forward - taking people who qualify through world ranking should be a no-brainer even if they are last in the list. That being said, it didn't take Mystic Meg to know that a couple of the announced athletes weren't going to get in. That's just administrative mismanagement.
 
On the downside, the relays were an unmitigated disaster - going from 5 medals to 0 in the space of a year is not the trajectory we need. Add in unfortunate injuries and poor track positioning and the medal count is seriously depleted.
 
It's the least important year in the Olympic cycle - and athletics isn't the only sport where GB are off their Olympic best - but let's hope we're in a better position when Beijing rolls around in '27. 
 
 

High traffic during the World Champs, that was impossible to predict and prepare for. 

Or Slovenia :P

Well, with 2 days left to go, this is already GB's most successful World Jnrs since the event was started back in 2006. 
 
Headlined by Filip Nowacki's genuinely world class performances, obviously, but some very strong swims across the team. Mills, Fearn, Morgan, Taylor and Smith all continue to have an excellent summers. Blythe Kinsman looked off her best earlier in the week in the 100m back but has qualified 2nd fasted for the 50m final tomorrow, so hopefully the earlier problems were just the inevitable consistency problems of youth!

I'm not reading too much into the week (or even this year in general) because this was always going to be the quietest year of the current Olympic cycle - with Euros and Commies next year, then 27 WCs and finally LA, there's an obvious build up over those three years, which will each bring their own pressures. So this year, across many of the Olympic sports, is the one to...relax.
 
Obviously they are all still professionals but it is fairly clear that some are not quite at their top. Some have been more open about it than others (Peaty obviously, Dean as well). Which then leads you to wonder whether that is more widespread than we think - to use Oli Morgan again - could he actually not be working at 100% this year and actually capable of even more than he has shown? We'll never know, but it isn't impossible to imagine. 
 
And in swimming especially, with the illness that we know hit the US and has seemingly hit others (I believe GBR shared a training camp with the US, so it wouldn't surprise me if they were caught up in it), these Worlds shouldn't be read too much into.  
 
But all that said, fly is still very obviously the weakest link, especially in the absence of a WC women's backstroker right now. It's not that our swimmers are underperforming, they just aren't yet quite showing they are capable of keeping the distance to the top nations down right now. We're still looking like we're giving up at least a second in both the men's and mixed relay on the fly and we don't have Adam operating at a level where we know that he's definitely going to be at least a second ahead on the breast like we used to. 
 
As you say, Ed and Keanna have both had solid weeks and there are green roots elsewhere - Dean Fearn had a good Euro Jnrs. Theodora Taylor is gifted in pretty much everything, so could develop her fly (although the free is probably her likely spot). And Blythe Kinsman is probably the best bet for the backstroke spot right now. Those latter 3 combined with Nowicki to dominate at the Euro Jnrs in the mixed medley.

Bilbao is older than the other two and hasn't really kicked on yet. Obviously he still could and I believe he is at Arizona State, which seems like a decent place to be. But right now he's not quite there. 
 
I have to disagree with you about Adam's arrival. He didn't come from nowhere in 2014, that was just when he had his international breakout. He came from nowhere in 2013. Which is why he holds the GBR records for all 3 breaststroke events for 18 year olds - https://www.swimmingresults.org/downloads/records/BR/BR_Progressive_LC_Male_18Years.pdf  
 
Literally no British 18 year old has ever swum faster than him. So what Max and Filip are doing at 17 *IS* impressive. Filip's 200m time from the Euro Jnrs is super impressive - it would have placed him 5th in Singapore this week. Bottom line is that Filip holds the British Jnr records at 100m and 200m, and they are both within a tenth of Adam 50m Jnr record, with another year of eligibility for each of them to improve further before they join the senior ranks.  
 
Now obviously that doesn't mean that they will get close to what Adam achieved or keep improving, but the signs are positive. 
 
Oli's poor week has still seen him get within 2/10th of his 100m Back British record.  Given that there's rumours that the British team has potentially been hit by the same bug as the US team, I wouldn't worry too much about that. 
 
The fly issue is definitely the bigger one. 

Yeah, we have such a strong crop of Juniors, that we can’t take them all. They all have exciting trajectories but to predict what Junior swimmers will is always difficult. Better to let them all swim together at Juniors than rocketing them all up to seniors and swimming a prelim and going home.

I'll give it a shot.
 
On the mens side the freestyle results were pretty standard with the usual suspects of Ben Proud, Matt Richards and Duncan Scott swimming well. I don't think any of these guys were fully tapered and Proud didn't even shave for his 50m free win (21.67). 17 year old Jacob Mills came second in both the 50 and 100m free, so is on the team for Singapore. Tom Dean has only just got back into training but qualified in the 4x100 after being preselected in the 4x200 free. 
James Guy looked impressive with a PB in the 200m free at 1:45.08. He also won the 400m free in a race where he went out way too fast and died at the end (3:46.64). The longer distances weren't notable.
 
Ollie Morgan was certainly stand out swimmer on the mens side sweeping the backstrokes for a 3rd straight year. He broke the national record in the 100m with a 52.12 with a pretty poor finish. He also impressed in the 200m with a 1:55.55
 
Without Peaty, the mens breaststroke was pretty poor, with Greg Butler only qualifying for the relay. 17 year olds Max Morgan and Filip Nowacki took home a few medals between them.
 
The Men's fly was also pretty pedestrian by international standards. Proud won the 50m in 23.21 with a long glide, whilst Ed Mildred took the relay spot in 51.80. 17 y.o Jack Brown was only 0.07 back Duncan Scott won the 200m (1:54.89) but he wont swim it in Singapore.
 
Scott took the mens 200m IM in 1:56.44, whilst, Max Litchfield won the 400m in 4:11.59
 
 
On the women's side the quality wasn't as good but there were a few standout performances.
 
Freya Colbert got close to the British record in the 200m free in 1:55.76, and Eva Okaro impressed with a 24.48 50m free. 
 
The backstrokes were disappointing with nobody breaking a minute in the 100 (1:00.03), but Katie Shanahan looked good in the 200 at (2:07.91)
 
Angharad Evans was rapid in the breaststrokes breaking the national record in the 100 (1:05.37), and a huge PB in the 200 (2:21.86)
 
Fly was poor with nobody breaking 58 in the 100 (58.03), but Macinnes broke the Scottish record in the 200 (2:07.14)
 
Abbie Wood swept the Medleys with a 2:08.85 200 and a 4:36.66 400
 
 
Overall the results were alright with a few strong standout performances. As is the case in a post olympic year, the big guns took it fairly easy whilst some juniors looked really promising. 
 
More results here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_Aquatics_GB_Swimming_Championships

All the sessions are also being streamed on the Aquatics GB youtube, which is helpful for those of us outside of the motherland not having to mess around with a VPN!
 
At the halfway point of the champs, and about what you would expect from the first national champs of a new Olympic cycle. 
 
Nice to see some young swimmers (Mills, Schlosshan etc) start to make waves. Stand out performance thus far being Olly Morgan in the 100 back for sure.
 
 

Well...mostly unstoppable.

Fantastic crowds for wheelchair rugby 

I certainly didn't expect a full pool for swimming morning sessions. That's great to see.
 
 

Is Harrie Lavreysen from Kent as well?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c990yd94j7eo
 
These sportsmen and women are tough cookies.

I think both are important.
 
Like, I'm not going to criticise Australia and the Netherlands for being delighted with their gold figures in Paris. They should be rightly proud.
 
Equally, I think we should be rightly proud of our overall performance, especially in terms of total medals.
 
Other countries can be proud of their first medal, or in some cases their first final. There's not a limit to happiness!
 
 
In related news, I'm pleased with the comments coming out of UK Sport, looking at both their own website and the Beeb story about the athletes coming back from the Games. I still hope that they (and the various sports) have the sensible tough discussions that all good governance should have but also that a "win at all costs" mentality is not necessarily conducive to healthy environments.

Personal schedule: 

First round 
1140 go to refresh forum out of habit
1141 remember Olympics is over 
1142 sadness 
 
repeat hourly until paralympics 

Hello, welcome to Team GB Debrief, a chance for us to yammer, unfortunately, in the past tense, about Team GB at the Paris Olympics.
 
SCHEDULE
 
1000 WORK FORGET THE RULES OF TAEKWONDO - Preliminary Round
1300 LUNCH BREAK GLOOMILY SCROLL THROUGH THE PARALYMPICS SCHEDULE - Preliminary
1700 HOME ACTUALLY HAVE TIME TO MAKE A MEAL - Gold Race
2000 SPEAK TO LOVED ONES FOR THE FIRST TIME IN TWO WEEKS - Final
 
Leaderboard
 
Congratulations to Olympic Champion, Fencing, 1976 @cjsavoryOLY for 115 points and victory. The silver goes to @Olympicsnellon 109 and the bronze to me on 102. @G-annbeats @adolphinto fourth, 93 to 91
 
Medal count
14/22/29
 
Bollocks. It's over.

Went to get in my car for the first time in 17 days this morning, battery was dead *sigh*

Thank you! I plan to stand in my garden this evening, and solemnly wave a comically large flag back and forth to mark my victory.

1. Everything about Tom Pidcock's mountain biking
 
2. The artistic swimming, both the performance and the reaction.
 
3. Megan Keith epitomising the Olympic spirit in the 10000m.

I mean, after Paris having the surfing in Tahiti, Oklahoma isn't that far away from LA in comparison.

I mean, after Paris having the surfing in Tahiti, Oklahoma isn't that far away from LA in comparison.

I mean, after Paris having the surfing in Tahiti, Oklahoma isn't that far away from LA in comparison.

I mean, after Paris having the surfing in Tahiti, Oklahoma isn't that far away from LA in comparison.

Don't worry I'm on it.... Scope will be anyone who made quarters or top 10 in a final I'll actually look up ages! See you in 2-3 hours. 
 
(Yes I am extracting it from Wikipedia and not manually typing in everyone)