mpjmcevoy

Apparently almost the entire team is untapered; the only real issue was qualifying the men's 4 x 100, and even there, James Guy didn't go, Dean barely did, and both Scott and Richards were basically in heavy training. Peaty apparently sort of half tapered, and his team are apparently perfectly happy with where he is, much as Max Litchfield's team are. Clearly the USA have taken an even more relaxed route if that's possible, while Chinese in comparison are absolutely on it. Stephen's gold today was a complete left-fielder, but its interesting her time was more or less the same as last years worlds, when the worlds were the main event of the season. She's clearly capable of more, but she's unlikely to catch Macintosh, lets be honest. The women's 4 x 200, without Anderson, is seriously impressive , especially Wood. And despite the lack of taper/seriousness, they've still got their 4x1 quota, a women's 4x2 free silver which is actually impressive, and notably 4 medals. some of us recall a fully tapered GB scrounging about for 1 bronze not so terribly long ago. Paris will be a whole new level of tough, but quietly I'd say GBR are pretty happy with where they are. Team Ireland, by contrast, are absolutely ecstatic, notwithstanding the relay disappointment.

Really wish the High Dive outdoors, like open water swimming, was in the Games - doesn't seem a wildly expensive venue - a Scaffolding, steps, temporary stand and a reasonably deep temporary pool., yet its a fabulous spectacle, and requires relatively few competitors for a proper competition.

Perhaps the presumably limited funding for Oceanic championships can be better directed to helping such athletes get to the Europeans/Asians/ etc - Depends on numbers and costs.

Seems a little pattern developing actually, where one event stages another from a different part of the world. The European Weightlifting seems to be operating a link with the USA, not dissimilar to the european U23 Aquatics, while the worlds have 'held' the Commonwealths in weightlifting several times by simply drawing out the CW qualified lifters in the standard competition. not the worst idea in the current climate

It's a fair call - a lot of the picks under Pidcock and Finucance are pretty tight, really, and there are several wildcards beyond these who have a puncher's chance - Pfeiffer Georgi, Charlotte Worthington, Kye Whyte, Evie Richards, Katy Marchant

There's no such thing as a certain gold medal, but in order of likelihood, I'd say: Pidcock Finucane (Spr) Archibald+A.N.Other Men's BMX Free Men;s Team Pursuit Archibald (Omn) Women's team Pursuit Men's Madison Women's Team Sprint Women's BMX Racing Men's Omnium Men's TT

Sporting authorities, never change.

Come to think of it, why don't Canada do their bit for world inclusivity and offer to MERGE the 2031 Jeux de Francophonie and 2030 Commonwealth Game into an all-in-one 2030 Friendly Games/Jeux Amicaux ?

Hey, don't knock it, Ireland are an observer member too. The Commonwealth wishes it has this level of certainty for its next two events

How about a repechage system for the relays: 2 heats of six, top 2 qualify for final regardless of times. The bottom 4 in each heat swim a repechage, top 4 qualifying (or be really cruel and have four head to head swim-offs) for the final.

I do get the impression the level of 'tapering' is rather variable in the squad, even in the 4 x 1 boys who clearly did what they needed, but not much more. To be fair the level of tapering is variable throughout; the chinese, clearly, are on it, the American's not so much. For the Brits, Adam Peaty needed to make a statement for his own confidence - his return to some sort of form will be heartening. This champs however, even more so than the Doha World Athletics, feels like a champs that will be soon forgotten, and in many ways placed in the memory hole - the classic "contractual obligation" album.

Our French Textbooks in school were, as I recalled, called L'Hexegone. Malheureusement, mon francais, c'est encore tres pauvre!

Am I right in thinking that the hexagon has a very specific historical meaning fro sport in France? I vaguely recall a story that a childrens book was published which first described travels around france in terms of the hexagon - and that for many french people it was the first time they had a sense of the size and shape of their country - and this book is strongly linked to the early Tours de France?

That's my assumption too - she's an obvious 'ace in the hole' as back up for the Team Pursuit, while clearly, if she continues her astonishing rate of progress, she's a contender in ITT. In which case we presumably take Annie Last for the MTB. Tarling will perform a similar role for the men. In both cases, the track squad arguably has another card to pay on the road in J Knight and D Bigham if it comes to it.

If GBR kept the second MTB quota, would you bring Backstedt?

Didn't a group fo Romania gymnasts do something like that a couple of decades ago - I recall it being a scandal. Can't say, given the body type typical of gymnasts, that I'd be very comfortable with that.

Not planning... PSA : Do not google carelessly.

?? Edit: !!

Medalist in 2023, or one of best 13 times across 2023 and 2024

Technically, all twelve squads that are eligible here could post superfast times and knock out everybody from 2023 bar Great Britain

This entire fortnight is centered on quotas - and the first week has been a humdinger, almost every boat came in. They were never likely to get the WP one, frankly it was a major success just to qualify for here, and to beat one team. Otherwise it's been an enormous success. They'll want to get the men's 4 x 100 over the line, most of the others already look safe, and frankly are more likely to miss out through British Swimming's own criteria

Right on cue, rumblings from Australia - seems Commonwealth Games Aus are determined to get the event on in one form or another, probably on a dispersed regional model (which oddly is the direction of travel for CWSport anyway) - so big ticket.moneyraising sports (basically ~Athletics, Sevens, Cricket, Swimming and possibly gymnastics) will be distributed among existing venues in Aussie and New Zealand cities, while Island nations will get a few nice locally popular events that aren't too taxing venue and accomodation wise- weightlifting in Samoa, etc. Perhaps even Rugby Leaugue 9's in Papua NG. If that was used as a springboard for a Global Centenary version of the same in 2030, and an African or South Asian regional model for 2034, that might create a way to contain spot costs to keep the event viable, provide hosting opportunities for smaller nations, and even leverage fundng into those smaller nations from big sponsors - creating a decent pop-op/modular 1000 seat venue in St Lucia, or a popup velodrome in Trinidad, might be a better use of resources than another 40,000 stadium in Australia, England or Canada

The other thing is if Tarling and Hayter took technically road race/TT quotas, might that free up room for a spare in the Drome. Could the same logic extend to the women's pursuit crew, eg Josie Knight?

I'll admit I'm intrigued on who the Road Race team will be - arguably their best shot at a RR medal on a punchy parcours will likely be on the MTB course. If so, it will be intriguing to consider what team GBR would bring - especially if other options like Ethan Hayter and Ethan Vernon are in the velodrome. Is Bigham an option for the second TT spot, assuming a Giro/tour double probably knackers G?

GBR have bagged 3 open water quotas, an Artistic swimming quota the men's synchro 10m and the outstanding men's 3m quota. Grace Reid is the last quota available barring unexpected miracles in the Water Polo. And they've bagged five world medals while getting those quotas. This seems like success beyond their wildest hopes