Epic Failure

I like to do the reverse and imagine what our team would look like if we still had the Empire at its peak. 
 
 

Agreed that there's no great place for him. I just think that the 4x1 is the worst option. I take your earlier point about the likely order of relays preference and that impacting their thinking. But I think we could get away with him in the mixed medley probably fine. Maybe even the 4x2, although there's more at risk there if that goes wrong.
 
Personally, I'd put him in the mixed, then the men's medley, then 4x2, then 4x1 myself.
 
Either way, I'd not have both him and Jack in the same heat, whatever else happens. To me that just seems like asking for trouble.
 
 
 
 

I like to do the reverse and imagine what our team would look like if we still had the Empire at its peak. 
 
 

No worries, honestly, no offence was taken at all, just thought it was useful to show it on the forum. All good.
 
the problem is they have to put him somewhere, and anywhere else is a bloody liability too.

Sorry, I realise that I worded my response poorly.
 
I wasn't disputing what you were saying was true. After you posted I went to the WA website and looked at the various listings. So I wasn't doubting you.
 
I was just saying that if the GBR coaches actually follow through with that in the 4x100m (as opposed to it just being a place holder/incorrect early form from WA), I might cry.
 
I very much hope I'm wrong but I have serious doubts that a 4x100m team with both of them in it would qualify. Which would be a huge shame as I think that we absolutely would be in medal contention in the final if we got there.

Kind of a stupid post and I hope nobody gets ofended by it, but... as a basque person I always dream... What would our National Team for the games be if we where independent? Well, this is the answer.
 
 
 (Fictional) BASQUE TEAM FOR PARIS 2024  
 
ATHLETICS - 2m+2w
 
· Asier Martínez (110 hurdles)
· John Cabang (110 hurdles)
· Tessy Ebosele (Long Jump)
· Majida Mayouf (Marathon)
 
BADMINTON - 1w
 
· Clara Azurmendi (Women's singles)
She wont be going to Paris cause ESP has an athlete before her at the ranking, but she's in qualifying position.
 
BOXING - 1m
 
· Oier Ibarretxe (-63.5kg)
 
CANOE SLALOM - 1m+2w
 
· Pau Echaniz (K1 & cross)
· Miren Lazcano (C1 & cross)
· Maialen Chourraut (K1 & cross)
 
CANOE SPRINT - 1w
 
· Begoña Lazkano (K1 500m)
 
CYCLING - 2m+1w
 
· Oier Lazkano (Road & TT)
· Alex Aramburu (Road)
· Ane Santesteban (Road & TT)
 
GOLF - 2M+1W
 
· Jon Rham
· Adrián Otaegi
· Carlota Ciganda
Adrián wont be in Paris due to having other spaniards in front of him, but he's in qualifying places.
 
JUDO - 1W
 
· Ariane Toro (-52kg)
 
ROWING - 1w
 
· Virginia Díaz (Women's Skiff)
 
SKATE - 1M+1W
 
· Alain Kortabitarte (Men's Park)
· Naia Laso (Women's Park)
 
SURFING - 2M+2W
 
· Andy Criere
· Joan Duru
· Nadia Erostarbe
· Janire González-Etxabarri
 
SWIMMING - 1M+1W
 
· Jon Osa (100m backstroke)
· Nahia Garrido (200m backstroke)
We have no standars so I guess that this two would be our Universality quota recipients.
 
TAEKWONDO - 1M
 
· Jon Andoni Cintado (-80kg)
He wont be in the games cause Spain couldnt send anymore athletes to the final qualifier. But if he could compete, I think he qualifies.
 
 
TOTAL: 27 ATHLETES (13 men + 14 women)
19 of those would be in Paris representing , one representing , one representing  and six that don't get to go.
 
 
Other athletes that would had slim chances to qualify: 
 
ATHLETICS: Abdelaziz Merzoughi, a moroccoan inmigrant, live his young years until he was over 18 in a center on the basque country. He cretidts the start of his running career thanks to a basque coach. He probably would be representing the basque country. He has the olympic standar for the Men's Marathon.
BASKER 3X3: Both France and Spain have a basque athlete in their olympic teams. Qualifying is hard but with the level of some basque 5x5 players, not impossible.
CANOE SPRINT: Iñigo Peña in men's K1 1000
CANOE SLALOM: Men's C1 quota.
CYCLING: A third mal quota or a second women's quota could perfectly happend, but I went prudent.
ROWING: nother boat through the European qualifier, due to some of our rowers level, it could happend.
TAEKWONDO: Jone Magdaleno in -62kg
& other posible athletes from the basque diaspora round the world.
 
 
MEDAL CHANCES?
Well, we have them: Jon Rham in Golf, Ariane Toro in Judo, the Slalom team and sligth chances for the surfers and Naia Laso in skate.
 
My prediction? 0 medals, sadly.
 

but they didn't show the decontamination shower she took for hours after this show   

Jakub Grigar (Canoe Slalom M Kayak) & Alena Kánová (Para Table Tennis) presented the traditional oath to the hands of the president of Slovakia before the Olympics in the presidential garden in Bratislava this morning.
 
Our Olympic and paralympic mini-teams took over in return their official decrees of participation in the games
 

 

Reigning decathlon World Champion  Pierce LePage has withdrawn from the Olympics. 
 
https://www.instagram.com/reel/C9iZCuSPdlD/?igsh=OHIxeGJjNzZ2OXcw

Just because an athlete has performed at PB level during a season doesn't mean that they will continue to do so. Nor is the opposite guaranteed to happen. Some athletes time their taper better than others.
 
By your logic, Duncan should be almost as much of an outsider as Tom, given his best in the last 12 months is a 1:55.9, which is substantially slower than Wang and Marchand, and at least a couple of tenths slower than both Casas and Foster. But you aren't writing Duncan off in the same way.
 
Just seems a touch inconsistent, that's all. Guess we'll just have to agree to disagree.

Tom may not have the best time, but he's bronze medalist from the most recent real WC (ie not Doha), where he beat all 3 of Wang, Casas and Foster in a 1:56.07!
 
I agree that the competition is fierce but I would argue that his proven record of championship performances deserves some respect. For me he's below the top bracket of expectation (Richards, Peaty, Proud etc) but ahead of the as-yet-unproven at Champ levels (Morgan, Evans etc)

I mean he swam 2 tenths quicker at trials this year than he did last year before he went on to medal. Hardly terrible form.
 
Again, I'm not hanging a medal around his neck but he certainly should be in the list of serious possible medalists. If Angharad is in the list as a possible medalist with the 6th best time of those competing in Paris, then Tom deserves to be with the 7th best!

I can’t wait to show you my beautiful country and our beautiful capital of Paris. I hope you will be satisfied with our opening ceremony 

It's worth noting that those runs from Lina, Jessie and Bianca and others were from La Chaux de Fonds. Which has a...questionable reputation amongst athletics fans.
 
Good for head to head comparisons between those there but I wouldn't pay much attention to the raw times themselves. It's the track equivalent of the distances done in Ramona.
 
That being said, Lina being ahead of VO is good for her claims to a relay spot no matter the circumstances.

I don't think it is down to not having a winning mentality, so much as it is that we're just not *that* good. 
 
We're good, but we're not true world beaters. Our club football has been greatly enhanced by all the foreign players.
 
Don't get me wrong, I don't think we're some kind of minnows. But we're not or , or 21st century  .  
 
It's worth noting that pre-Southgate we had only reached the SFs of either Euros/WC on 3 occasions in our entire history and 2 of those were when we hosted the tournament.
 
The football may not be pretty at times - and we've had some lucky draws - but Southgate has got to 2 Euro finals, a WC SF and QF. For an England manager that's a heck of an impressive record.
 
Anywho, fair play to - clearly the best team in the tournament and in Rodri have arguably the best player in the world right now, imo.

That was sort of my point. I think the total number of medals is likely to be pretty accurate but I'm not remotely convinced that I got the colours right.
 
One easy example to show what I was doing is that I have Molly Caudrey down for bronze. It certainly wouldn't be a shock if that's where she finished, but neither would it surprise me if she were a top the podium.

I could live with it if it were even as generous as the old B standard, which usually meant you could only bring 1 in the event, not three - so if you get two or three invites in an event, I can see the argument for going, ok Nuttall, Norman, Purchase, Strickler, Norris, yer in - but Kenny, Verity etc, sorry but we only take one invite per event - at least then the 'leading brit' represents the country.

Okoye has hit the UKA Q this season, at the DL in Doha. The current form criterion says athletes have to be "at or near" the standard between April 1st and June 30th. So he has done that. He's also been "near" on other occasions.
 
Obviously that criterion is there to give them an out, so to speak. But I don't think he's that much at risk.
 
Personally, I'd take everyone. But even if that wasn't going to happen, of those likely to miss out, Norris, Purchase and Hunt in the 200m are no brainers for me.
 
Hunt being in the 200m means that you can select Lansiquot in the 100m with no issue as well as Henry and Philip in the relay squad. Which allows Dina/Daryll more rest if they get to finals. As it is, assuming that we select Lansiquot, only 2 of the 3 others would be selected. Which also means we have to use one of Daryll or Dina in the heats (unless we use an out of form Bianca Williams).

UK Athletics Champs 2024
 
The following are essentially 100% qualified. They finished top 2 at the trials, and have either a WA Q, or have a UKA Q and are safely in a ranking spot, unless there are some crazy results this weekend elsewhere.
 
Men
 
100m - Louis Hinchliffe, Jeremiah Azu
400m - Charlie Dobson
800m - Ben Pattison, Max Burgin
1500m - Neil Gourley, George Mills
5000m - Patrick Dever
400m Hurdles - Alistair Chalmers - the luckiest man in Britain - was DQed for a false start, ran under protest, ran the Q time and was reinstated later!
Long Jump - Jacob Fincham-Dukes
Discus - Nicholas Percy
Shot Put - Scott Lincoln
 
Women
 
100m - Daryll Neita
200m - Dina Asher-Smith, Daryll Neita
400m - Amber Anning, Laviai Nielsen
800m - Phoebe Gill, Jemma Reekie
1500m - Georgia Bell, Laura Muir
100m Hurdles - Cindy Sember
3000m SC - Elizabeth Bird
High Jump - Morgan Lake
Pole Vault - Molly Caudrey
 
There are others who will definitely be picked if fit but did not compete this weekend (or did not run their chosen event), such as Josh Kerr, Matt Hudson-Smith and Keely Hodgkinson.
 
Then there are others who didn't get top 2 here but have the Q (Imani Lansiquot for example) - they will be sweating this week.
 
Between those athletes and relay runners I expect the final team size to be around 55-60.
 
Then there are a chunk of people who will get a WA invite but which will be rejected by UKA. Because 'reasons'. Sigh.

UK Athletics Champs 2024 Day 1
 
Men
 
100m - Louis Hinchliffe, Jeremiah Azu
Long Jump - Jacob Fincham-Dukes
Discus - Nicholas Percy
Shot Put - Scott Lincoln
 
Women
 
100m - Daryll Neita
100m Hurdles - Cindy Sember
3000m SC - Elizabeth Bird
Pole Vault - Molly Caudrey
 
Some of the above are 100% guaranteed, some have met the UK Athletics criteria but will be waiting for the WA invite to be 100% sure but I'm including them here.
 
There are other athletes who either have the Q but who weren't competing here (Dina Asher-Smith in the 100m for example), or are in an event where UKA - in their infinite wisdom - don't accept the invites. Sigh.

From a pov, Tom Pidcock in the MTB is probably up there. In that sport with the risk of injury/puncture there is never a guarantee but if he gets around on the bike without incident, I don't see him being beaten.
 
in diving is usually a lock for most of the events.
 
Summer in the 400IM is about as sure bet as you can get.

Not officially confirmed yet (team is due to be announced on Friday), but unless UK Athletics ignore their own policy that they have needlessly put in place, it's going to happen.
 
So if Zaltos stays in that spot in the rankings, he should move up into the qualifying spots once it all shakes out.

1. At home, cursing the world as I wake up at 3am thanks to my timezone.
 
2. , , - all 3 for family reasons essentially. I also will support any athlete over the age of 35, because I feel a kinship based on aging bones.

1. At home, cursing the world as I wake up at 3am thanks to my timezone.
 
2. , , - all 3 for family reasons essentially. I also will support any athlete over the age of 35, because I feel a kinship based on aging bones.

1. At home, cursing the world as I wake up at 3am thanks to my timezone.
 
2. , , - all 3 for family reasons essentially. I also will support any athlete over the age of 35, because I feel a kinship based on aging bones.