Makedonas

Great to see Chalkiadakis get a gold medal for us, usually it's either Mitas or Mavrommatis doing something in the men's skeet, so this is a nice surprise! I wonder how the selection will go, as Mitas is world champion and Chalkiadakis is European champion, it will be hard to remove them so Mavrommatis or Gkogkolakis can compete. Now we have qualified 5 shooters for Paris, a big success considering we only had 2 in Tokyo. Of course there is still a chance to add 1-2 more, maybe Chatzitsakiroglou can do it here as well After we won so many medals at the World Championships this year, and now this, my only fear is that we won't be able to replicate this in Paris

5-0 win for us vs Gibraltar, the most goals we have scored in a match since 2009

Ποιες είναι οι προβλέψεις σας για το 2024; Όσον αφορά την Όλυμπιακή πρόκριση, θεωρώ ότι θα στέλνουμε περίπου 20-30 αθλητές στο Παρίσι (είχαμε 23 στο Λονδίνο, 25 στο Ρίο, και 20 στο Τόκιο). Οι σίγουροι (αυτοί που έχουν ήδη προκριθεί): Men: Long Jump-Tentoglou Pole Vault-Karalis Women: 20km walk-Drisbioti Στις ρίψεις, πιστεύω σίγουρα θα προκριθούν οι Αναστασάκης, Φραντζεσκάκης, Τζένγκο και Σκαρβέλη. Επίσης θα έχουν ελπίδες οι Μουζενίδης, Ζάλτος, Κυριαζής, Κοσμίδου, και Αναγνωστοπούλου (ήταν έγκυος φέτος). Στα άλματα πιστεύω ότι επίσης είναι σίγουρο ότι η Στεφανίδη θα προκριθεί. Επίσης θα έχουν ευκαιρίες να προκριθούν (λογικά μέσω ράνκινγκ) οι Πολακ, Κυριακοπούλου, Πανταζής, Τσιάμης, Ανδρικόπουλος, Γκούσιν, Δόση, Καρύδη, και Μέρλος. Στα εμπόδια έχουμε τον Δουβαλίδη, την Γναφακη, την Πεσιρίδου, και την Καραγιάννη, όλοι με πιθανότητες. Στα σπριντ πιστεύω σίγουρα θα βρεθεί στο Παρίσι η Πολυνίκη (όνομα και πράγμα!) Εμμανουηλίδου. Ίσως και να δούμε και αλλά κορίτσια (Σπανουδάκη, Αναστασίου, Τσουκαλά) είτε σε ατομικά αγωνίσματα, είτε και σε σκυτάλη. Στα αγωνίσματα βάδην, πιστεύω θα έχουμε συνολικά 4 αθλητές (τον Παπαμιχαήλ, την Ντρισμπιώτη, και 2 από τις Φιλιτσάκου/Παπαδοπούλου/Τσινόπουλου στο Παρίσι. Επίσης, δεν είναι απίθανο να υπάρχουν κάποιες εκπλήξεις (πχ Ντραγκομίροβα, Βασιλείου, Δεσπολλάρη, Φιλιππίδου, Ρίζος, Τσίτσος, Παυλίδης, Νυφαντόπουλος κτλ.

It will be interesting to see if the successful countries from this regatta like Romania and the Netherlands will try to get a full team!

And now it looks like they won't be held in September, as they are supposed to be next weekend but there is severe flooding in the city where they are supposed to take place...

The thing is, some countries have rowers from the eights also competing in other boats. For example the Romanian women have their women's pair and women's four combine for the eights (they just add two other rowers and the cox). So in the end these quotas don't add up sometimes.

recap: M1X: We all hoped that Ntouskos could win a medal, so it was disappointing that he came in 4th (and missed the podium by 0.13s after a photo finish), but he is clearly in a good condition and it's safe to say he is a contender for the podium in Paris. He is now qualified for his third Olympics despite being only 26 yo (obviously he will be 27 in Paris). W2-: There was a lot of drama with this boat because we had the Kyridou sisters vs Anastasiadou/Bourmpou (if we had a proper federation, they would've organized our crews so that all four girls get in a boat somewhere...), but no matter what we knew we would get the Olympic quota and we did, with out 7th place finish. These girls are only 22 and 21, so it's a very strong result for them in a competitive boat class. It will be interesting to see how much they can improve, as they only started rowing together in June, and Anastasiadou is a lightweight sculler at 165cm who previously never competed in sweep events but she is really holding her own. I think they are also medal contenders for Paris. LW2X: Not much to say here but they were a disappointment. 12th place is not bad but really not representative of their abilities. These girls won European Championships and World Cup medals together earlier this year, so we definitely expected that they would qualify here. Of course it is a very competitive boat class so you never know what can happen, and Kontou is only 17 yo so she is clearly inexperienced (though she made the A Final in this event last year with Anastasiadou as a 16 yo). Hopefully takes the quota at the European regatta, and then we will battle with the Olympic medalists and for the two remaining Olympic tickets in Lucerne...and of course there is also as outsiders who will be at home... LM2X: Similar to LW2X, another disappointment to get 13th place as they also won European Championships and World Cup medals together earlier this year. It will be a big battle in Lucerne between many teams to get the last two Olympic tickets, but I think and will be the favourites... M2X: Very very disappointing season for Kalandaridis/Palaiopanos. They got 19th at the World Championships after being 6th last year. One of them was injured so they did not train much together since last year, hopefully they can be healthy and ready to go for Lucerne but it's going to be very difficult. Also I do not know if the federation will keep them together or try some other rowers/boats and mix things up. W2X: It was their first time together, both girls are very young (20 yo Fragkou and 17 yo Dalidou) but very successful at the U23 and U19 levels with many gold medals. They finished 19th of 19 crews, clearly not ready for this level, and I am not sure if we will see them again together in Lucerne or if we will have other combinations. Our federation is trying to act like this is some big success with the two quotas, but really it is laughable. In London and Rio we had 10 rowers each time, then just 4 and Tokyo and so far only 3 in Paris despite a lot of U23 and U19 success in the last 10 years or so. The Kyridou sisters and Tsamopoulou want to compete, and the federation must work with them to get them in boats, because all three would probably qualify in Lucerne if the federation gives them the opportunity. We could even try a W4- or W4X with the Kyridou sisters, Tsamopoulou, and Fragkou (all girls know how to scull and sweep so it's not a problem). It is going to be very difficult in Lucerne, it will be very competitive and hard to expect to qualify more than 1-2 boats realistically...

So the following countries will not be eligible for the European regatta: Croatia Czech Republic France Germany Great Britain Greece Ireland Italy Lithuania Netherlands Norway Romania Spain Switzerland Which means the favourites for quotas there will be: M1X: , , or maybe W1X: Russia and Belarus if they are allowed to compete, otherwise we could see , , or for example take someone from a different boat and put them in the single. LM2X: , , or possibly one of , , since Poland will be limited in how many quotas they can accept. LW2X: , , or maybe Of course we do not know if some nations will put someone in the single sculls from another boat which often happens, so that could change things up as well (for example M2X)

Another 4th place for Ntouskos. Perhaps he is thinking of switching citizenship to Canada?

Rowing +3 Evangelia Anastasiadou and Christina Bourmpou (women's pair) Stefanos Ntouskos (men's single sculls)

I guess it can change tomorrow, for example Bulgaria and Norway might become ineligible as well, possibly others too.

Do we know yet which countries will be eligible for the continental qualifiers?

Evangelia and Christina got the quota They only needed to avoid finishing last and they actually finished first. Very impressive since Evangelia is a lightweight rower

Interesting to revisit this: 1. Sakellaridis improved so much and is now just outside the top 400, still only 18 yo but unfortunately not playing Davis Cup once again. 2. Tsitsipas is playing and going back to North America for Laver Cup. I wish more Greeks would appreciate the sacrifices he's made for the national teams, unlike certain basketball players who had the whole summer off and still don't play... 3. We are playing at the Panathenaic Stadium. @hckošiceAre you coming to Athens?

Another A Final for our Olympic gold medalist Stefanos Ntouskos in M1X! This is now his 7th A Final in a row in a major championships (2020 Europeans, 2021 Europeans, 2021 Olympics, 2022 Europeans, 2022 Worlds, 2023 Europeans, 2023 Worlds). Still think his Olympic gold was suspicious? @OlympicsFan

Medvedev beat Alcaraz, which I certainly did not expect after their previous meetings this year!

Welcome, neighbour! @Bulgaria87

You spoke too soon If only I put my money where my mouth is, I would've become a very rich man today...

I keep mentioning that our W2X girls are 20 yo and 18 yo, but actually they are 20 and 17 At this point just invite the Kyridou sisters next year and have them do W2X and they will 95% qualify. I don't know the details of the drama but having them and Anastasiadou/Bourmpou compete with each other for the W2- spot is so dumb when they can clearly be used in another boat class. And as of now it looks like even if Anastasiadou/Bourmpou win the quota for Greece, they will have internal races against the Kyridou sisters to see who goes to Paris The simple solution is just to have one of the teams compete in W2X this way all four of them can go to the Olympics, otherwise with the current format two very good rowers will miss out on the Olympics.

Sabalenka loses first set 0-6 to Keys...somehow I think she will still win!

Disaster for Greece yet again Our W2- finished 4th in their SF, which is sad, but they really SHOULD get a quota here. Nothing has indicated that they will finish last in Final B, so I'm not too concerned about them but you never know. Our LW2X will probably have to try again next year, as it will be very difficult for them to win Final B especially from Lane 5. In the end it looks like we will only qualify M1X and W2- from here, which is very disappointing as we were expecting to have 4-5 crews to qualify. LM2X and LW2X really let us down...

We've failed at the OQT the last three times, maybe we should try to host this time. Also we were very good with the team we had last year, won our first 6 games at Eurobasket (beat Italy in Italy, Croatia, Czechia etc) and lost to Germany (in Germany) who had a red hot shooting day and played one of their best games in German national team history.

Can any of our Polish friends tell me what happened to Natan Wegrzycki-Szymczyk? He was so promising but I guess he gave up?

Yes, really a bad day for us. Not surprised about our W2X, they are a new combination and despite their U23/U19 individual successes, they are still only 20 yo and 18 yo and clearly too inexperienced for this level. M2X is also not surprising given their form this year which is a shame because they were so good last year and relatively young. I know one of them was injured since then, so hopefully by next year they can get back to their 2022 form and still qualify for Paris. The big disappointment for us was LM2X. This is a team that we thought could even win a medal so yeah, shocking. And they were less than one second away from winning their quarterfinal race but instead they finished 4th Ntouskos won his heat and quarterfinal both pretty convincingly, so I definitely expect him to get the M1X quota. Also with 11 quotas for W2-, it would be a shock if our girls don't get it at this point. Lastly we have LW2X. We really need our girls to do it so it is one less boat to worry about for next year. Plus we have a tradition lately of having teenage rowers qualify for the Olympics (19 yo Ntouskos and 19 yo Petrou in LM4- for Rio, 18 yo Asoumanaki in W2X for Rio as well, 18 yo Bourmpou and 18 yo Kyridou for W2- in Tokyo), so we need 17 yo Kontou to get the quota