mpjmcevoy

Both Korea and Great Britain are beatable -Korea maybe slightly more so. Last cycle one team just got through, one team just missed out. Suspect we may have similar this time, but neither Irish team are mugs, and none of the remaining semifinalists are either. By the way, this has been a super cool qualification tournament all round

Huge news. Hard to see this being a solo run given the political nature of Russia, so can presumably expect the other gymnasts, athletes, swimmers, cyclists, wrestlers, boxers, judoka, taekwondoka etc following suit?

Lacrosse strikes me as closer in spirit to hurling than some of the other 'hockey' family sports - the physicality, challenge in the air, etc... - whereas Shinty is much closer to field hockey

Canada don't seem to have much interest in multisports hosting at the moment all round...

There are no individual pursuit or stand alone points races at the games, only the Omnium and the madison. Full track program : Team sprint, sprint, keirin, Team pursuit, omnium, madison, all x 2 (men and women) FWIW : It's nigh on impossible to draw much from the women's team pursuit here in the absence of Archibald, Barker and Kenny; for some years Archibald in the madison has been in the Redgrave position - i.e. they used to ask what was the best Coxless pair in the world, the answer was Steve Redgrave and whoever he chose to row with. Archibald is in almost that position with Madison, the best team is Archibald and whoever comes with her. The 'superstar' team is Archibald and Kenny, obviously, but I suspect the best team is Archibald and Elinor Barker at this point. Nonetheless the depth for GBR is excellent, with Neah Evans possibly only fourth choice for an individual race, yet capabale of medalling is he does. The men's pursuit team have done what they needed to do, and I'm reasonably confident now they're gonna make it - It wil be interesting to see if the rumours about Josh Tarling are true, if so, you could be looking at a team of 5 including Bigham, Tanfield, Hayter, Vernon and Tarling that will be extremely competitive - I don't know at this stage if reigning Omnium champ Matt Walls is likely to be in a position to compete this time, or if Tarling gives room to possibly take Mark Stewart for Madison only. Women's team sprint have, I believe, booked a spot definitively. Safe to say the emergance of Emma Finucane as the boss of match sprint is very good news, though I do not expect the Germans to give up without a fight. GBR will, however, be very happy with how the land lies at the moment, and will hope that the returning Marchant can come through too. The men's team sprint is a shambles in historic terms. Carlin has not kicked on, though he remains a threat in Kierin. The reality is the Dutch sprinters look more or less unstoppable, certainly in team sprint and sprint. Completely left field, in the spirit of the Tarling rumours, we maybe shouldn't rule out Zoe Backstedt as a back up option in team pursuit AS for My hate, I was very pleased with Laura Gillespies run in the Omnium. If we add that to Ben Healy and Eddie Dunbar on the road, I'm pretty happy.

Am I right in thinking that means GBR are now mathematically as they can't be passed by both of china and japan?

It's a wonderful achievement in context. The Irish set up have really ridden the success of Martyn Irvine to create a nice little programme, which will only improve if we ever get the Velodrome up and running. Throw in Ben Healy and Eddie Dunbar on the road and it should be a good little group.

Glasgow, Manchester, London...what's the fourth, Derby?

If it ain't broke... Seriously, could do worse than put it on a rotation between the five best velos

Cruel. fair, but cruel. Look, Raducanu was much like Tao Geogaghan Hart's giro win, a perfect storm partially caused by COVID. (and for the record, Tao, I think is much closer to the elite bracket generally than Emma). She's obviously a good player, her initial Wimbledon run showed that, but her actual GS win was, to a large extent, a fluke of timing - she coped much better with the oddness of that, period and should have been enjoyed as such without assuming reality wouldn't intervene. FWIW, Littler appears to have been a recognised prodigy for some time now, and the numbers he's hitting are not astonishing for a 16 yo. They're just astonishing full stop. We may be about to hit a golden period for Darts, and if we could only find a couple of international players from North America to inherit the John Part legacy, the sport will be in as good a place, internationally, as its ever been. Darts, as a sport, is built imho for Las Vegas...

GB are chasing points in Men's pursuit, so the big guns will be back. Archibald is doing the Nations Cup circuit, apparently

The main thing for all these events is to step back from the 'Planet Olympic' gigantism and 'monumentalism'. Outside the middle east and parts of China - and possibly India - those days are over. We have all the venues we need, it's a matter of making the numbers work on a sensible scale. The Munich 2022 European Championships event cost 125 Million - a lot, but a fraction of the full Games cost. The Birmingham AL World Games 2022 cost about 80 million. The Billion pound events are taking the mick.

Just beat him. And beat him well. I recall the Bristow Deller final, though this feels more like Boris Becker's first charge at Wimbledon.

Jake Jarman, Matt Richards, Josh Kerr, Beth Potter, Tom Pidcock, Bryony Page, Emma Finucane and Joe Choong all raise a quizzical eyebrow....

Wonder is this the first time a Nordie has won the RTÉ prize (Rhys McCleneghan), but failed to pick up BBC NIs prize....

Bad news, but good timing. Better now than in 12 months

Peaty probably needs the 'reps'. The men's 4 x 1 team is the major one, as they don't have a time yet following the DQ in 2023 - I think they're probably safe in most of the other relays on time rankings, including men's and mixed medley. All the same...

Interesting inclusions Adam Peaty Max Litchfield Interesting omissions - including in relay terms: James Guy Jacob Peters Freya Anderson Katie Shanahan

Happy with both, albeit Dan Wiffen was dreadfully unlucky with timing Limerick...sigh. Even with a QF loss, the men's rugby team were huge. Extended period as #1, a win over the world champs, a grand slam finally at home. The women's football team amazing turnaround post world cup, and the European gold, World bronze of the men's sevens also

It seems in relation to the UK athlete that jigsaw identification is possible. If I'm correct about that, it's going to be heartbreaking.

Given the ridiculous nature of the 2024 season, presumably even the unlucky few (I'm thinking of men's 3 m in particular) must have a shout for the Europeans, and therefore a point to their season

Hi Russ I post with two hats on, and . Politically, and culturally, I'm more , but I retain a strong affinity in sport with , and especially . So... For it's all about Dan Wiffen, notwithstanding we have a genuinely decent squad these days (must not overlook Mona and Ellen), but Dan is an absolute bolter for us - he's not gold medal favourite, but he's definitely a gold medal chance. For those of us who recall Atlanta, it would be a blessed relief if Dan picked up a medal, especially a gold. Now, for A huge amount depends on Peaty. Without Peaty, we have some great chances. With Peaty in anything like his old form, things go mega in 3 further events. Gold Chances: 50m : Proud. He's due an Olympic medal, but he's capable of gold. 200m : It doesn't really look like Popovici is coming back in his World champs form, and Matt R winning the Euro Short Course was a bit of a statement. The reigning Olympic champ has been very very good over the three years since, but not really quite hit that peak - and he is in a field of Brits that is so stacked it makes other 4 x 200 relay teams wince - indeed, the last thing they need is Jimmy Guy of all people apparently rediscovering his 2015 mojo - indeed, with the rise of Jacob Peters in the 100 fly, Jimmy's eggs may all end up in the 200 free basket. Which ever 2 survive trials will be medal hopes, but Matt R is probably the gold medal hope. 4 x 200m : speaking of which, this has to be GB's biggest chance of a gold. If the top four come in any sort of shape...The Reigning World Champ, who is also the euro SC champ, the reigning Olympic champ, who's also World silver and basically has won a global medal every time he's dived in, the reigning Commonwealth Champ, who beat the Olympic champ, having won silver at the Olympics, and the 2015 World Champ who has won just the six global relay golds 100 breast : All depends on Peaty. He may be done. He may be about to do something spectacular. and the truth is we just don't know. 200 IM. Duncan Scott is a machine, but a silver machine. This time I don't forsee him having as packed a schedule as in recent years - he could very well not make 200 free, and not be needed for all of the 4 x 100 free relay . He may even get a rest for the 4 x 200 relay heats. If all his stars align, I think he can do the big G in 200IM. Won't mean he will. but he could. 4 x 100 freestyle - not as sure as the 4 x 200 despite strong chance of many of the same personnel, but if Burrus and Whittle come in hot, it's possible - a Proud heat swim is unlikely but not out of the question 4 x 100 medley. All on Peaty, again. GBR have increasing quality options on backstroke and fly, but it all comes down to Peaty - if he's flying, it's on like donkey kong. 4 x 100 mixed medley. Arguably the better medley if Peaty is fit. Big if. Without him, nae chance. TeamGB must remember golden rule of mixed medley - "You'll only get joy if breaststroke's a boy" - using a woman at breaststroke costs an extra 2 1/2 seconds compared to freestyle, and 1 1/2 compared to back or fly - it is insurmountable, imho. Again, feels like a FMMF order, and GB have better options - or at least more options - in 2024 than they did in 2021 on F back and M fly Medal chances You have to love bolters; that guy or gal you hardly considered who comes through in the key six months like gangbusters. Sure. it's easier to understand if they come through like Scott, Guy, Dean, Greenbank, Anderson, Richards etc from precocious junior careers, but unpredictability is fun That aside, I see genuine, though not necessarily huge, chances of medals in M 100 fr M 200 bk M 100 fl M 400 IM W 4 x 200 fr R W 4 x 100 medley R W 50m fr W 100 bk W 200 bk W 200 IM W 400 IM W 200 IM

I'd suggest seeing the calamatous empty stadia when athletics took its worlds there, they thought 2024 would be a good place to bury a dead champs, which everyone will forget a few months later when the 'Lympics is on anyway...

It does feel a bit like World Aquatics owed Doha or whereever the Worlds for ... reasons... saw the shambolic World Athletics there and realised it was a perfect fit for 2024 - just get it over with in the one year eyeballs will be on swimming somewhere else anyway, and no-one will remember duff Worlds in empty arenas. Of course, in years to come, a handful of swimmers will be able to make hay on their status of World Champion in a weakened event - but then, that opportunity was open to European Champs in Olympic year too, so no harm, no foul.

Interesting. This is where the French organising committee can play its cards. If they are keen to make IOC President smile they make noises about meeting the Russians and extra security if required. If they prefer the Russkis don't come, they make indignant noises about existing security being entirely adequate and the Russian noises insulting and inappropriate. If they want to really rile the Russians, they pronounce their security entirely adequate, while noting that there are limits as regards what any state can provide when met with the sort of organised international mendacity we saw in, for example, Salisbury.