dodge

Annoying for small nations that might have to choose between a mixed 4x400 or mens/womens 4x400 though Basically I’m thinking of Ireland here. We’d be top 16 in mixed/womens if it were times only but with a smaller pool they probably won’t have strong enough teams to qualify both in Nassau

To be fair to the ICF, they've been one of the quickest federations in confirming qualifiers after events so you mightn't have long to wait

Aidan is a far superior talent. Dean had a chance at the European Games and lost his first bout. His local IABA organisation have complained but it seems to be on the basis that he's our national champion. That's fair enough but Aidan missed that and they've been training together and under assessment for a while now. It definitely seems like parochial stuff from Dean's team upet he's out rather than anything else. Bigger surprise at 66kg but again Broadhurst had her chance and lost at the Euro games. O'Rourke did beat Grainne Walsh in Poland late last year but on a split decision and O'Rourke hasn't had her shot at the big international tournaments. There are, no doubt, people who are hoping neither qualifies so that some one else (Dean Walsh, Broadhurst etc) gets a chance at the second qualifier. There are several (including those) that are listed as part of the high performance unit for 2024. The only surprise exclusion was Gabriel Dossen but that's a complicated one

Team Ireland Men: Men's Flyweight (51Kg) - Sean Mari Men's Featherweight (57Kg) - Jude Gallagher Men's Light Middle Weight (71Kg) - Aidan Walsh Men's Light Heavyweight (80Kg) - Kelyn Cassidy Men's Heavyweight (92Kg) - Martin McDonagh Women: Women's Flyweight (50Kg) - Daina Moorhouse Women's Featherweight(54Kg) - Jennifer Lehane Women's Welterweight(66Kg) - Grainne Walsh 2021 Olympic medalist Aidan Walsh returns for the first time in a year. At 66kg Grainne Walsh gets the nod ahead of 2022 World Champions Amy Broadhurst (63kg) and Lisa O'Rourke (69kg). Broadhurst lost at the European Games. Kelyn Cassidy should qualify with an average draw. I'd hope Jude Gallagher will too.

It’ll be a second Olympics for some of them. Not many but a few of them went to Rio

Yesssss!

Not your fault Laraja but those rankings (as published by the UCI) are wrong. They’ve made a mistake with the European championships (AFAIK!)

Ireland v Spain also available on our national broadcaster RTE www.rte.ie/player

I think the men have a 50/50 shot. Women have a harder task

Thanks I just found that myself. Phew

Folks, can someone confirm the relay qualification for me? I had presumed that Top 3 from Japan 2023 WC qualified. Then the final 13 would be decided by the best times over both Japan and Doha (ie a country could afford to miss Doha if they had, say, finished 5th in Japan - knowing their time wouldn't be bettered) Now that I'm reading the qualification document again, I see it's only based on the Doha results (aside from the top 3 already in)? Have I got this wrong the entire time? EDIT: I was looking at an old qualification document. The new one is here and confirms its times from both events! Panic over

I have convinced myself that Lara Gillespie is winning a medal in the omnium in Track Cycling

That doesn’t really make sense tbh. Winner of the group likely plays Ireland or Korea. Win that and they’re through Runner up would play Belgium, and could still end up playing Ireland or Korea in the 3rd place play off Either way Canada would need to win by 4 to overtake Spain as GB will beat Malaysia

Probably no need to list the marathon qualifiers from Ethiopia or Kenya at this stage…

Yeah. Selection stuff never bothers me. A key line in the press release might be talking about those selected being committed. Talent is never the only criteria

That team is confirmed now https://iaba.ie/team-announcement-1st-olympic-world-qualifier/

8-0 means that Ireland only need a draw in the final group game with to make the semi finals in Valencia

Whether it’s publicly announced or not, the boxers will have been told who’s going to that first one. Broadhurst and Lisa O’Rourke have both had injury issues so may not be close to ready. Broadhurst had the first chance despite losing the Irish title last year so can’t really complain if Walsh gets first shot this time round (as good as she can be) The coaches have been watching them for months, so will definitely know more about form and fitness than we do. Broadhurst may go like Joe Ward and be one of our brightest talents never to make an Olympics, but she has no one to blame but herself if that’s the case

Nice start for drawing 0-0 with but progress will still likely depend on results v and Hard to see anyone but and still

Just a couple of points. In badminton, Rachael Darragh has a bigger cushion than 10 spots. Shes ranked 60th and the last qualifier at the moment is 83rd in the world. Shes 28th of the 36 spots, but the cushion is nearly 7,000 ranking points. She will make it In Hockey, the men are ranked 4th and the women 5th in the qualifiers. Men should make the semis and it’ll boil down to whether they win the 3rd place play off. Theres little in the rankings there too Our most likely chance in gymnastics is unfortunately injury to those individuals who qualified at the world champs. They’re personal, not national, quotas and would be reallocated Shooting will have unused spots to reallocate. We got it last time through Burnett’s MER score in the cycle. Gormally could get that. As you said it’s complicated but it’s effectively trying to spread the quotas out a little Similarly weightlifting will spread quotas around. Browne was way down the rankings last time but only a host place selection from Japan stopped him qualifying.

Still no official results for the women’s team pursuit

Quite a good time for Ireland given the circumstances. Lara Gillespie was rested for the qualifying round and she'll come in tonight in place of Erin Creighton. Tehy won't get top 4 but they're consistently top 5 in Europe now which is a considerable achievement from such a low base

Very strange they didn't mention anything about a boycott in their letter to Macron. It's nice for you to have the inside scoop there

An interesting one for as the former ice dance combo of Carolane Soucisse & Shane Firus make their Irish debut A very strong pedigree, but obviously falling down the pecking order in Canada made them look at the Irish option. Shane has family ties

So... Ireland is 48 ahead of 8th place at the moment but I think the medal race splits from the "last race" for the others. Meaning the best points total any of the non-top 10 can finish is 11 Meaning and have qualified with already in the medal race and through to Paris too