mpjmcevoy

I crushed the numbers, and Tambling is, by my count, defo in - when excess NOC places from Japan, Brazil and USA are excluded, she cannot finish lower than functional 20th - she is currently functional 15th with the vast bulk of those still able to get big marks already above here. Sky brown is absolutely safe, obviously. Those in green can earn more points, those in blue are maxed out and those in pink don't matter for other Q purposes because they can only qualify by displacing another of their NOC As can be seen, Q is essentially over for anyone not Aussie, Brazilian American or Japanese - if you aren't fucntionally top 20 now, you aren't going to be, and if you are, you aren't going to fall out. Lilly Strachan is the unlucky loser at 21 (ignore 28), which will make her first reserve - but given france have 2 in the top 20 (functional), they will give up their 'host' space, and Strachan scrapes in as the last Q. happy to be corrected though .

Before Archibald's injury announcement I'd have thought this was almost a foregone conclusion of GBR - NED - ITA in that order. I still think that will be the order, but it's far from a sure thing now. I think it's quite likely Harrie sweeps men's sprint and Emma Finucance sweeps women's. I think Italy and GBR are duking it out in Endurance but there won't be any sweeps. I think GBR 4, NED 3 ITA 3 BEL 2 is quite likely on the gold front, though France and Australia will probably ghave something to say - before Archibald went down I'd have gone GBR as many as 6-7 golds, thanks to Archibold and Finucane

Will you shut up about bloody 'funding disasters'? Enough already. It is repetetive trolling, and you clearly know nothing about the funding model. It's obvious. So stop pretending you've anything useful to say on it. Stop derailing interesting threads with your ridiculous obsession with doom-mongering. You've been warned often enough, it's obviously not accidental.

No exaggeration to say probably the single worst bit of news Team GBR could have gotten in terms of hopes - at a stroke, three possible golds have possibly gone up in smoke. That said, and to be clear there is no replacing Archibald, Team GB on the women's side go quite deep. no longer gold favourites for any of the three medals, but Barker and Evans are absolutely plausible in the two non team pursuit events, and I'd still fancy a medal, though not gold, in team pursuit. Heartbreaking for Archibald who has had a run of 'luck' that you wouldn't wish on your worst enemy. Only hope she finds the motivation to give it one more go in LA.

Hey, i love the greeks, and there's an interesting cultural undertow here, eastern and balkan Europe has clearly taken the champs a bit more seriously than Western Europe - but, I mean, Pop is here doing 46s. It's not so much D' level as it is uneven in the extreme - some bits damn close to A standard, some struggling to hit C, sometimes within the same race.

As I understand it, yes.

Very, very hard not to take French who came straight back to form last week. I think Green's goose is cooked. The interesting choice is Bryson v Varley. Bryson had dome form, Varley had the class.

Diving did. Ross Haslam, Daniel Goodfellow and Eden Cheng all won quotas they didn't get. In modern Pentathlon it looks increasingly likely Olivia Green will no ge the quota she won.

I thought it was a nominative quota?

Guess I was spot on. Can't imagine Coldwell got initial call and Waugh overturned it, the two were so close either was justifiable - which makes me think my original call was bang on. Tough on Codwel, but I think Waugh is probably a better future bet....

If Murray and Wawrinka get in on ranking (as now seems likely), who gets the legacy spots?

Agree, huge shame. I'm not as opposed to multiple champs in one year as some, but we saw similar problems - if not quite on the same scale - in the Euro athletics and World indoors. In sports were build and taper are big things (as opposed to the season long slog of cyclng or triathlon, for example) there needs to be a rethink on the timing of Olympic year Euros - hold them toward end of season well after the Olympics and you'll get a better product - sure some Olympicos might miss it, but others will treat it as a lap of honour, and a chance to meet heroes, and others will see it as a redemption opoortunity to rescue the season after Olympic disappointment, or missing them altogether, while also perhaps showcasing some new names for the new Olympic cycle.

Is this an indian mocking other countries doping?

The question is can IRL get to the mixed final without her? If they can, she'll absolutely run the final. but if they calculate they cannot, decisions will have to be made

I don't think it's impossible they've picked Waugh as having more long term potential, and Sophie is appealling.

S0 far we have 5 handbacks by GBR, 3 by CAN and now 2 by AUS

That's an easy position to take when tou have a country of 1.4 billion people obsessed with that one sport. My view is 'loathe away', but don't expect the rest of us to care, or capitulate.

Scotland and Ireland both lost against higher ranked opposition, so I suspect that's a wash. I don't think either team has any more T20s before 30 June. So as long as Bangla overturn Nepal, i think we're OK.

I think Greg Rutherford, Shara Proctor, Lorraine Ugen and Jasmin Sawyer did all right to be fair.

We really need a grassroots night of 10k m PBs style event for throws, jumps and multievents to create some momentuum and opportunity in these events

Apparently the boys have suddenly hit a rich vein of form and may even be the slightly better bet. Sadly Penny 24 is not currently a patch on Penny 23, but she's young. Penny 28 might be spectacular.

Am I right in thinking if Bangladesh come through tonight, Ireland qualify as next under rankings for 2026

Hard Agree. There are ways to utilise the Full Members and Senior associates to provide real incentives tot he rest of Europe without flooding the calendar - a tiered series where Netherlands and Scotland only join in at penultimate stage (sort of QF), and Ireland and England at the ulitimate stage (sort of SF). might not sound like much, and possibly only requires literally a game or two from England, Ireland, Netherlands and Scotland, but it would be epic for other European teams to at least theoretically have a one off crack at a 'big boy' - at worst, the recognised best four European teams have a quick warm up for the summer. at best, a smaller European nation gets a major publicity boost.

I understand your pessimism only too well but I think you maybe 'do down' one or two of our chances to avoid heartbreak. The reality is, if Rhys hits two routines properl, Rhys wins a medal. He wasn't the double world champ in weak fields. Wiffen will defintely not be gold favourite, but his times, rather than his medals, still suggest strong medal chances. And I wold genuinely be astonishied if a couple of our women's boxers - mostly only two fights from a medal, don't bring it home. Rowing is a bit of an enigma, though I agree chances are not fantastic, but I think Adeleke is a warm favourite for some kind of metal, especially with syd and Femke giving the indy 400 the swerve, and the likeihood Ireland will put out a first choice mixed relay when other nations will not. If Rhasidat drops a relay, I suspect it will be the women's. Outside that the men's rugby sevens cannot be discounted, not the showjumpers and eventers, not Rory McI (despite his brainfade tonight)

Would love to see Italy move the Game on - they have the climate to support it! The more competitive teams in Europe, the better - Ireland have made the leap, it's been wobbly, but we've made progress, and scared both England and Pakistan at test level. Would love Scotland and Netherlands...and Italy...to move forward. Only way to break the 'Cartel' - and it probably eventually involves a URC style 'european' equivalent of the County championship.