Cinnamon Bun

Will update all the qualifiers from the past 2 weeks in the coming days in anticipation for the final week of the marathon qualification window. 

1 hour ago, Rafa Maciel said:

Which event were you thinking we would get the quota for?

I thought Gowin in the rapid fire and Bale in the 10m had really good chances at getting a quota considering form and ranking, and in a way I was proven right as they both came close to the final. But I have been surprised at the performances of Miller and especially Bargeron who I hope doesn't bottle it today. 

34 minutes ago, Olympicsnell said:

i think its broadcast on youtube, will sneak that on and watch a sport i didnt think i'd be watching this week 

I thought we'd get a quota this week but this isn't the event and certainly isn't the athlete I thought would be challenging for it. 

11 minutes ago, Olympicsnell said:

When is the final of this please

Tomorrow at around 2pm our time. 

34 minutes ago, Jan Linha said:

50m Rifle - 3 Positions 

 

There are 5 shooters in the final who already earned the quota. So 2 quota places will be decided between  Ole Martin Halvorsen,  Michael Bargeron and  Jan Lochbihler 

Considering the form he's been in I'm very surprised to see Bargeron here. Hopefully he can capitalise on the ISSF mishandling of this qualifier and earn us not only an unexpected shooting quota but an unexpected mixed rifle quota as well. 

Overall a very good squad and near enough what I expected. Glad we actually stayed true to the 30 athlete limit, was worried we might go under. Surprised we took both Whittle and McMillan as I didn't think we'd needed both for relay cover and felt we had good enough cover in other areas for both the 4x1 and 4x2. This has led to Cox harshly being left off as I felt she could've contended for a final spot, just shows how much 1 bad swim at the wrong time can mess up your whole season. I think this also means we see Dawson swimming all relay heats as I doubt that Osrin and Harris will be able to go under the minute mark for the medley and the mixed medley. 

4 minutes ago, NearPup said:

actually was very close to qualifying in women's basketball last Olympics, so there is definitively a foundation there that just doesn't exist in handball.

Exactly, hopefully we can start doing the same in handball and start capitalising off the back of this. 

Just now, Josh said:

I’m pretty much in the unknown as well. But I saw an article on a Canadian athletics website https://runningmagazine.ca that explained that our athlete (Tristan Woodfine) competing at the Boston Marathon has to finish top five to qualify for the Olympics. I believe the same applies for all of the platinum marathons. 

So the athletes only qualify through this by getting top 5 and not by achieving the time but finishing outside top 5? 

2 hours ago, OlympicsFan said:

It is much easier to qualify in handball, but I feel that concentrating on qualifying in basketball would be a much more „natural“ choice for GB. Basketball should be a much better match.

We could still go for both as realistically basketball doesn't need too much development in this country compared to handball which needs tons. Either way we need to improve our performances in a lot of Olympic team sports. 

Just now, EselTheDonkey said:

What for sure counts as a standard, is finishing in the top 5.

I'm not sure it does as there's apparently too many downhill sections for it to be counted as a qualification event. @Josh has commented on this before, I reckon he'll have the answers. 

1 hour ago, JoshMartini007 said:

The tournament has started a few minutes ago, if anyone is interested.

 

I just realized that the 4th place team will play their play-off game against only one week later. That's a bit unfair...

Not really as the group would've had more time to gel as a team compared to  as they'd have played an entire 3 week tournament together. Also a week's rest is a long time in football. 

Does today's Boston Marathon count towards Olympic qualification or not, it's listed on the World Athletics calendar as a platinum event but I've heard people on here say it doesn't count due to it having too many downhill sections. 

Despite getting thrashed in all 3 of our games, I'm quite pleased with our performance this week. We got into double figures against Hungary and Japan and created some good opportunities for ourselves that we unfortunately couldn't convert, which is more than I expected us to do. This is a sport that needs a lot of development in our country, and this is certainly a start to seeing us become competitive whilst trying to qualify for major championships. Just like with our Water Polo teams, this could be the boost we need to go on and qualify for Brisbane and 2036 - which should be our target off the back of this. 

1 hour ago, Olympicsnell said:

Gave it a good go GB, had them on the ropes 

Very unlucky not to score another 45 points and win the game. 

2 minutes ago, RussB said:

I must admit this is another positive takeaway from today, that quota looks likely to be gained.

I think we can also add the men's double sculls to that list too as we stormed the B final but where still a fair bit behind unqualified Australia who were last in the A final and should qualify along with us. As for the other 3 events, we won't qualify anyone in the men's lightweight but I'm still optimistic for us in the women's singles and doubles sculls despite not entering anyone here. The Europeans in two weeks will give us the biggest guide as to what shape the team is in. 

10 minutes ago, Olympicsnell said:

That men's 8 was impressive, very solid opening world cup for British team as a whole i thought, probably men's double sculls is still a way off and i was hoping Thomas would go for the single scull quota spot but if it improves the four then so be it 

We may still have Thomas racing for the quota at the LCR and have Bourne race it at the games, who I thought looked really good today. But regardless who it is, it's pretty safe to say we'll get the quota along with Italy. 

7 hours ago, Josh said:

Tom Jones Memorial ended today, with some excellent performances. 
 

 Jacious Sears clocked a new PB (by almost two tenths) and WL in the women’s 100m of 10.77, which puts her in firm contention for an Olympic spot at the USA Olympic Trials.

 

More fireworks in the women’s 100m hurdles, with Nia Ali winning in 12.44 ahead of   Tonea Marshall in 12.45 and Christina Clemons in 12.51. 
 

In the men’s 110m hurdles,  Grant Holloway clocks a 13.10 in the prelims en route to a 13.21 in the final. 

 

Finally, in the men’s 200m,  Courtney Lindsey with a new WL of 19.88 took the win. 

Christ the Americans weren't half Burning Down The House with their performances, Tom would be proud. 

Just the one athlete for  in the men's 20km race walk. Really shows the sorry state of affairs we're in that we don't even want to attempt to qualify for this at Paris. 

Easy win for Hungary as expected, but I felt we gave a decent account of ourselves. A lot of work needs doing though, as we missed quite a few clear cut chances due to our throws being too weak. 

6 minutes ago, mpjmcevoy said:

GBR is notable for loving a bit of variety in its sport - no nation - not even the US and China - got golds in as many different sports as GBR at the last Olympics - they LOVE a bit of niche up Albion way! That said, you need, as Basketball has found, a certain tipping point weight to get your team sports to the next level. Women's basketball, amazingly, is not that far away, but men's is miles off despite big playing numbers, so handball will struggle - not least because what tends to happen is that team sport niches fill up with other sports - e.g. how many potential athletics throwers never try because they are quickly spotted as perfect rugby fodder, and in England in particular (and Ireland) rugby has a higher youth sport profile.

That's very true, but I believe the likes of basketball and handball can capitalise on the recent downfall of rugby, particularly rugby league, in the UK and Ireland. The less opportunities there are for young players to enter rugby, the easier it will be for basketball and handball to pick up talented, athletic throwers which should help get the ball rolling and enable us to qualify for more continental and global tournaments. 

2 minutes ago, heywoodu said:

To be fair, that's a little like saying the Netherlands should be great at ice hockey because it's the best country in the world both in skating and hockey  

Not really, as hockey, ice hockey and skating are more different compared to football, rugby and handball. I was more coming at from a youth development perspective, as the stark similarities with rugby and football should make handball more appealing to kids at a young age. 

59 minutes ago, OlympicsFan said:

Don’t know anything about the procedure, but it is safe to say that Romania would have been more competitive and probably would have „deserved“ it more. GB starting to care about handball (volleyball, basketball) would be good for the sport, but it doesn’t seem to be GB‘s strategy to focus on team sports. France on the other hand seems to care a lot more about team sports. I guess for GB it is enough to be (somewhat) competitive in football and rugby.

Handball's one of those sports where it should be successful over here as it's a solid blend of football and a little bit of rugby. And I think if they can get more people playing it at school and university level and get some sort of competitive league over here similar to the BBL then I believe we have a chance to make ourselves successful in this over the next couple decades. 

8 minutes ago, RussB said:

Looks like the toxicity of the Seine is really causing problems. Reported today that the triathlon swim might be moved to later in the games if the e Coli levels are unacceptable (for instance in the event of heavy rain), and even removed from the triathlon completely if levels remain unacceptable. I'm sure Potter and Yee wouldn't mind too much if this was the case 

Puts the open water events in massive jeopardy too. Realistically the organisers should've come up with an alternative to the Seine as backup as cleaning it up was always gonna be a big ask. 

16 minutes ago, Rafa Maciel said:

Brits in action this weekend:

 

Tom Jones Memorial Invitational:  

Jona Efoloko - 100m / 200m

Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake - 200m

Matt Hudson-Smith - 400m

Efekemo Okoro - 400m / 400m Hurdles

Joe Breir - 400m

Alistair Chambers - 400m Hurdles

Josh Zeller - 110m Hurldes

 

Finette Agyapong - 100m / 200m

Imani Lansiquot - 100m / 200m

Nia Wedderburn-Goodison - 100m / 200m

Bianca Williams - 100m / 200m

Ama Pipi - 200m

Jodie Williams - 200m / 400m

Amber Anning - 200m / 400m 

Nicole Yeargin - 400m

Victoria Ohuruogu - 400m 

Cindy Sember - 100m Hurdles

Isabel Wakefield - 100m Hurdles

 

Pacific Coast Invitational: 

Jessica Tappin - 400m Hurdles

Chay Clark - 400m 

 

Dan Putnam - 400m 

 

Is the top one dedicated to the one and only Welsh sexbomb or someone completely different? 

Just found out that  have been handed a very surprising wildcard to this tournament. We're going to the Olympics baby!! The others team's don't stand a chance now that the mighty British Women's handball team have entered the fray.