mpjmcevoy

At least Barr and Becker have the consolation of the relays slots - at least they've got a ferry ticket.

Calmers reinstatement knocks Barr down one spot -I think he might just be the last spot now, pending other bad news from abroad...but, crossing fingers, there's usually a quota or two in each track event become available from pullouts whathaveyou

No Orangehair, it won't. B efore Mo Farah, nobody in GBR much cared about the 10k, and they'll go back to not caring about it just as easily. Please, please stop trying to create crisis news, there is none there, and it's tedious.

Okoye has the 'B' standard (A UKA only idea), and is likely, I think, to have a Road to Paris qualifying rankng. He also had a medical exemption - given his shakey form, possibly the wisest exemption in his career! I think he'll sneak through, just.

"Theres only one track event we havnt qualified in i think?" M 10,000 M 3000 SC W Walk

The real beneficiary will probably be Wightman. Eyes will however turn to George Mills to see if he coughs up the 1500 spot in return for getting the 5000 in his better event. Unluckiest chap in the stadium, Phil Norman.

I wonder is there the possibility for someone who has a ranking invite, but not a Q, to beat the Q in London? Wa/IOC will ignore it for deadline, but might UKA accept the ranking invite on the basis Q is now met....

McCleneghan is a huge hope for Gold, but he's one handslip from disaster. If he absolutely hits, he medals, probably silver at least. If. But he can't, and won't try, to compete with Whitlock's demonic D scores. It's actually a classic battle of technique versus artistry. now of course the Jordanian will get the gold, now I've said that! Boxing and rowing are indeed safer ground - they won't all do it, but the odds are good at least one of 'em will. And with Shaunie Miller-Uibo now not in the individual 400 in Paris, and No Sydney or Femke, the 400 has opened up in a very interesting way - she's a long shot, but Rhasidat is in the mix. Relays and Mageaan also represent minor medal shouts. Wiffen was lackluster the last few meets, but I'm choosing to believe he's simply in deep hard yards training. We'll see. and of course we'll always be in the mix, with some luck in the eventing and jumping with the horses, the sevens, or the golf if rory turns up with a 'head on 'im' as we say (i.e. he's angry and focused because of the US Open) That may see like slim pickings to a big nation, but to wee Ireland, which doesn't focus its sporting instincts on Olympic sports (preferring horse racing, rugby 15s and Gaelic Games) these are times of heady optimisim!

The UKA standard/invite route is proving more useful than I had orginally thought - certainly in the field MLJ, WPV, MSP, WHept and possibly MDT could ALL snag a backdoor UKA will be spitting chips.

Route 5 might just be opening up - Mills looked very strong today, and the 5K is actually one of the weak points in the depth chart. Mills might be open to swapping out a 1500 spot for the 5k - not likely, but possible.

She's a victim of not having the Q time. I'd say her seat on the plane for the relay is safe anyway - as are Desiree and Asha for relay duties. Given that both Dasher and Daryll are going to be doubling up most likely, bringing Asha makes sense as a specialist first leg in heats. Desiree is good bend back up. Men's first three makes sense now, rather happily...but the relay team now looks a bit of a shambles. if it didn't already - hopefully NMB runs strong tomorrow to ease those issues

His issue is simply that he's close to the rankings bubble - he may have to see out the weekend with no more autoQs

Not sure how disappointing it is really - look at the rankings - every single one of them (bar Kartal) was eliminated by a player ranked significantly higher than them - some comically so - and a LOT of GB players better than these get wild cards who would otherwise be in qualifying, and some of whom would likely have made it. Having seen a few of the matches, Loffhagen, Banks and Klugman actually outplayed their ranking a bit (you'd expect Klugman to, to be fair)

And then those others will sue and those others will win. They can't tear up the basic rules that blatantly, it won't fly.

I don't think that's right. I think exemption simply means he can be selected despite not turning up - he still would have to compete for his place on the normal rules of priority - 2023 world medalist, then 1-2, and only after that people with the standard.

Tagoe, Langford, Bradshaw all out. The sicknote list is becoming an issue with Hughes and Glave already out, the latter it appears for the season, and questions around Prescod, Jaz Sawyers, Jessica Waner Judd and Zeller already out for the season, McColgan not in top shape and and KJT carrying a 'niggle'. For some - Bradshaw esp - London Athletics Meet probably gives hope for a Q score chance, but that's a pretty dreadful list in run up to trials.

I think that's nearest the truth - the USA is deep enough in talent that it can take quite a few hits - though Mu is generational, so it stings. But - and this is the kicker - the news on Mu arguably is the biggest mainstream story athletics could hope for in the US. And that publicity is probably worth a lot more than one medal. It also creates a ready made narrative for LA28 to die for.

No medals are awarded before the opening ceremony.

Yep, break(s) of the day will be hugely important - all the players will try to get somebody up there to save the rest of the small team's legs. As Team GB showed in London, you just cannot control a peloton with 4 riders - and London was a relatively benign course, and Paris isn't. You need to be able to soft pedal a fair amount of the parcours to be ready when you're needed - and you can't do that if say Belgium, the Dutch and the Brits are up the road with one rider each, perhaps in combination with other teams with a decent puncheur/climber but little to no team depth (Ben Healy instantly springs to mind there) and the big guns of those three slightly stronger teams are whistling away allowing the poor oul Slovenes to ride themselves into the ground. That said, Pog could just decide to rip the legs clean off everyone and use them as drumsticks on his way to gold. Hayter's not doing the RR, only the TT, but I suspect Fred Wright would and could fill an almost identical function. If it doesn't entirely work, both Tarling and Eddie Dunbar obviously have the legs to drag things together with long shifts.

2800 m climbing, much of it cobbled, lots of short sharp hills at around 6-7%, without huge team support? I think it kills off the sprinters, all right, but there's plenty of random energy there. I think this could be a race of brakeaways and counterpunchers - or counterpuncheurs - if you aren't part of the golden quartet of Tadej, Mattieu, Remco and Wout vA, there's a good excuse for trying to get in the break, and hope they mark each other out.

Zharnel's exemption has suddenly made this the most wonderfully cut throat exercise - that said, there will also be 4x100 relay sports up for grabs s all is not lost outside top 2. My hunch is that Azu was on the verge of somethng extraordinary a few weeks back - if it was really just cramp, and he's sorted the issue, I'd love to see what he can do. Hinchliffe has been a revelation, but we know how hard it is to immediately turn that NCAA form into Olympic qualification. Romell Glave has had to wait several years for his chance, and when he got it, he did not disappoint. And Reece Prescod cannot be ignored as a massive natural talent. I'd be happy with any two from the first three - if I had a slight lean in preference (nor prediction, different thing), it would be towards Azu and Glave, with Hinchliffe in the relay room 1500 will be a bloodbath - so much depth behind Wightman, several of them shall we say awkward runners who tend to bump, barge, get boxed in, then commit minor criminal assaults to get out. If Wightman is on a decent form, they're probably fighting for one spot. Personally, I'd love to see a team of Kerr. Wightman and Mills; if I were honest, Gourley and Giles have had enough chances. The 800 is also going to carnage, but I think in a slightly different way - no way is Kerr doubling up in Paris, so he's really just a spoiler here to the rest, although his own mottives are very understandable. Obviously Pattison, Dustin and Burgin represent the future, as it were, but the 'past' - Langford, Rowden and Learmonth have a lot of 'savvy' and you simply never know what's coming from Jamie Webb, or for that matter the fast improving Sharman-Newell. I really want to see Burgin on the pane, but it's not the likeliest outcome given his season, or lack thereof. Perhaps the question is, does Kerr basically run it as a 'rabbit' to ensure a true run fast race, or will we get the classic absolute muck of a final the national 800 often throws up...and given the long list of class athletes, how many screw up the semis... In 1500W, there's a melancholy quality to Muir - are we now, after everything, maybe on the downslope? Given the pain and toil needed to finally get that Olympic and worlds medal, you could hardly blame here if the flame dimmed a little. Bell seems to be the coming athlete domestically, but women's 1500 tends to be, behind Muir, a very 'on the day' kind of event, more so even than the men's. Happy with Muir, Bell and a.n. other, preferably Courteny Bryant W800, again is as cutthroat as you like, though sad that Boffay has had to withdraw, given here's no realistic discretionary spot open in this field. Obviously this is two tales of two different narratives, and the attempts of the rest to break it up. You have to think Reekie is favourite. and you have to think there's a fair chance Gill again tries to take it out the Full 'Prefontaine' ("the only good race pace is a suicide pace, and today's a good day to die."), but there's a LOT of next level runners in that entry list, not just the likely final. Bookie's delight, that race. I'm hoping for gill and Reekie here, but hell, so many worthy athletes.

There's light wind and light wind. Issue will be, especially for men's 200, will it be <2.0 m/s light.

Civilians are not 'occupying forces', a ridiculous and offensive statement. Or are we expel anyone with some distant portuguese or african blood from Brazil and give it back in toto to its first finders?

Healy and Dunbar for me. If it was a flatter course, you'd bring in Sam Bennett, but it isn't, so horses for courses. I think this race could have a significant breakaway, and the main players oscillating between hurting each other and marking each other - if the break has the firepower, they could pull it off, which is not always the case. In that scenario, Healy should try and get up the road - he could be a really dangerous breakaway chance while the big guns mark each other out, Or Pogacar could just tear the legs off everybody and use 'em as toothpicks, either/or.

The first few 'general' alternates (as opposed to the country specific ones for those nations whose 3rd and 4th golfer ranks high enough) are almost always shoe ins, more so even than tennis.