mpjmcevoy

Are they likely to get the women's doubles teams?

Hard to imagine Dart and Boulter as a doubles squad, though...

To be fair, Mexico had pulled a worldie last two sets to win the semi. Given where GBR men are, this is little short of a miracle, a HUGE filip for the sport in gb. The women are decent, they always had a punchers chance, but thus is utterly unexpected from men. And having lost the 'winnable' semi, to beat Germany....arguably best Q results since 2023 Artistic Gymnastics.

Sorry, SLO

The lads seriously outperformed in qualifying, but begorrah the bracket has absolutely fallen in their favour!

Women's Time Trial, I'm thinking USA, NED, NED (2) or GBR. Men's toss up between ITA and BEL, favouring ITA, Bronze between GBR, SVK, favouring GBR because it is pan flat Women's 400m AUS, Men's 400 not sure Womens 4 x1 AUS, USA, CHN Men's 4x1 USA, AUS, ITA CHN, Women's 3 Syn CHN, ITA, GBR (I think this event is a bit soft under CHN, medals could go just about anywhere) Sevens FRA or ARG, probably FRA, Bronze between NZL, FJI and IRL Shooting I think maybe CHN don't know enough about Fencing to guess, assume Italy will be strong, Korea? So I think best day one will be CHN, AUS, USA in that order. ITA will show well, and GBR may unsually pick up few Day 1 medals, though they're most ly bronze or bust chances. IRL have a punchers chance in the Men's Sevens, which would be super cool. biggest nailed on gold is China in the 3m Sycnchro, utter utter shock if they fail to realise that, followed by Dyggert in the Women's TT and Titmuss in the W400. most intriguing event, apart from 7sRugby which I just love as a sport is the men's time trial - clear group of favourites on a pan flat course for specialists (as it should be) but all likely to have different back issues and stories. Ganna v Remco, Tadej v Josh T, Wout?

Hell of a result for the GBR girls. Hopeful at least one individual guy gets through for a mixed pair.

One wonders if it was about setting up 1st reserve on the women's side, with the understanding that a situation MAY arise where Franklin thinks better of it and pulls out of the CX. Unlike the men, Mallory and Kimberley are each other's reserves in the main boats. Stechell is now in place to step in.

Actual golf majors do something very, very similar. Jack Nicklaus was limping his way around Augusta for decades after he was 'done' And the thing is, every so often, miracles happen because gold is a precision, not an athletic aerobic, sport - for example, tom watson's last great run at the open Championship - or Goran's wild card miracle at wimbledon

Obviously done to preserve a bit of star power, plus reward previous Olympic heroes - given the two on the men's side are likely to be Murray and Wawrinka, I'd say it's a roaring success. As for what other sports do such a thing, have you never seen the invite criteria for the golf majors (the nearest sport to tennis in individual global appeal)? Guys get into the Masters and the US Open who are barely able to walk. I'm half shocked they don't do the same for Olympic golf.

Pretty sure it's more subjective than top 2. French won't make top 2, but she is reigning Olympic champ, and clearly still has 'it'. I'd say 'form' will play a big part.

Reigning Olympic champion Kate French doing her level best to give the GB selectors a choice and a dilemna. Olivia Green is on record as saying she thinks she's gonna miss out one way or another despite currently having a slot.

There is every chance of GBR knocking off 8-10 gold medals in cycling alone if everything fell right in MTB, Women's sprint, Women's endurance, men's endurance, time trials, bmx free men, bmx racing women....or coming away with just 1 or 2 (I can't see no golds for Archibald or Fincucane) They could literally win every Equestrian gold, even team dressage, if both Fry and Dujardin absolutely smoke....or none at all They could beat their Tokyo gold tally in the pool, especially if Peaty peaks well - or win none (though I think at least 1 is very very likely in m4x2 free) They could knock out 2, even three golds in Athletics if every god smiled. Or none (I predict, sadly, none, but a good general medal haul) Two in artistic gymnastics (M PH and M VT). Or none (both, to me, are 50/50). Three in Triathlon...or none. It's that sort of feeling - lots of possibles, in all sorts of nooks and crannies, but fewer 'nailed on' than recently the case. Ireland never has nailed on - except Katie Taylor first time around - but there are more genuine gold chances than I can ever remember between rowing, gymnastics, athletics, swimming, boxing. We may get none, we're likely to get none. Or we could win 5! gotta love sport.

The Dutch are the Australia of Europe - sports mad eternal over-achievers. Dear god they even try cricket and hockey and do it well. We're screwed if they properly discover rugby.

Nonsense, my man. "A man's reach should exceed his grasp, Or what's a heaven for" We must live in hope, should we die in despair.

I think that boat has gone, thankfully. ForGBR it's a funny one - huge number of possibles - on a good day, GBR could walk away from cycling with an absolute bagfull, ditto diving, canoe slalom, swimming, athletics, equestrian, rowing and sailing, with health returns in athletics, gymnastics, and triathlon...and on a bad day, they could have a big drop in medals and an awful lot of fourth and fifth places. Rowing had a dreadful time in tokyo, but seems to have turned a corner Athletics and swimming are both a curates egg, boxing seems to be the new Tokyo rowing ... i'm gonna say 45-65, with the result likely to be in the lower end. But the golds could go down a lot. I thoroughly expect Italians to be the breakthrough nation. As for my other hat , I have a deep and unusual optimisim - I think 8 is genuinely possible.

A full strength mixed 4 x 400 from GBR will absolutely be competitive if it includes both Charlie and Matthew - BIG IF. But it looks increasingly impossible to combine mixed 4, sexed 4 and individual 4 without mega depth. Mutterings beginning already that Rhasidat Adeleke is going to be pulled from Irish relay teams to protect her individual chances (which I think is insane, not least given how strong Sharlene is as a relay runner) - feels more and more like rowing where you have to look at your pool and concentrate your crews! GBR of course has already tasted this problem in the pool itself with the workload put on Scott, Guy and Dean (and which will be put also on richards this time) As for where GBR are, there have been a handful of genuine disappointsments and setbacks, but really not many - youngsters like Keith, Dobson and Caudery may be pissed off with missing Gold, as will Neita but they have reinforced their world class credentials - a welcome multiple boost for the squad going forward. Glave's very strong international debut cannot be overshadowed by the relay debacle. Thackery, Bell and Mills were fantastic, Sember, Mitchem-Duke, Scott Lincoln, Ali Chalmers all good progress, very encouraging work from the Neilsens, Jade O'Dowda, Anna Purchase. The genuine disappointments/concerns are relatively few, albeit they are real and bad - KJT, Eilish, Men's relay, Jessie Knight, Maybe Jemma Reekie in terms of kick. I'm not sure 1, 2 and 4 are fixable, I'm sure 3 is, I'm sure 5 isn't, but not certain that matters. and of course Dina, and hopefully Keely It's been a development event for GBR, but I think it's served its purpose well, and a home non-Olympic event in Birmingham in 2026 looks more interesting from a medalling perspective. As for Paris, I think GBR were maybe a little spoilt during the golden years from Ohoruogu in 2008 to Dina/KJT in 2019. Let's keep it realistic, enjoy ANY medals and strong performances, and for god sake practice the men's relay.

By my limited calculation, GB are returning 5 individual quotas 1 M3, 1M10, 1W3 and 2 W10. Probably for the first time GB have also had to leave some serious players at home - Daniel Goodfellow's stumble at the British Champs has cost him, and Eden Cheng, European 10m champion has had to give way to Lois Toulson despite a really good showing without funding at British champs. It's an unusual and pleasant situation to be in. Flipping hats I better go an remind myself where Jake Passmore is on the list....joys of double loyalties...

The only way Reekie misses is if Keely doesn't run, and mishaps occur in the trials final. Phoebe Gill is a phenomanal talent, but she's still green, and her kick hasn't been tested (her raw speed is obviously astonishing). Frankly, if Keely got injured, Reekie would become a major favourite to medal behind Mu and Moraa. she won't be left at home unless they have to to accommodate Keely.

I think a lot of people may be sleeping on just what an astonishing 400 that was - never before has a European's legitimately seen anything like that (I will not pretend Koch and Kratch are legit). World class 400 runners like Klaver simply left in the wake of top 2. And I don't think Rhashidat ran her perfect race; she was a little conservative opening, and then lost a smidge of form under pressure for the last 30 - and still ran that astonishing time v an absolutely world class runner smashing her own pb/nr. Pity Syd and Bol are swerving the 400 flat, but it's still gonna be an astonishing race.

You wait for one European Championships gold medal for 26 years...

I'm tempted to hold fire on the 1500 joy because that barge by Ciara, while legit in race, was bordering on assault! If Jemma had finished 4th rather than 5th, I wonder... I hope Jemma concentrates on 800, where I genuinely think she still has a Paris medal shout in the right race - the extra two laps just takes too much sting out of her finish, which isn't fabulous to begin with.. and yes, that SC DQ looks horrific, stand by for appeal methinks

Sub 11 with a start like an absolute clown is quite impressive, actually.

Tactically, Giles has run like a drain his entire career. It's almost supernatural!

The maximum entrants in the XC is 2.