mpjmcevoy

Shit news. He is obviously set on recovery followed by a crack at the Triple Crown, but still, would a dig at a first ever Golden Triple Crown not have been worth it? Will be interesting to see what form Remco brings in, as well as Matthieu vdP and Wout vA. no Tadej = changes of plans.

The silver is silly, it's blooming golf ffs! But the other 4 are civilised calls (though personally I'd rather they named Rhys for silver because of 'jinx' rules) That said, I also think they've left a medal or two out in the field (I cannot see 10 boxers coming back with nothing) - it may also be a games of quite frustrating fourth places esp in equestrian, athletics etc

I agree, but would say Dobson is the one athlete behind the current big two still taking chunks out of his PB - with respect, the idea of a Brit now running 44.2 not being seen as at least a medal shot is unprecedented, and I genuinely believe there might be a 44 flat in him even this year. as for the winner, that 43.7 by Matt was electric, but he didn't even run through...there's at least another tenth, possibly two in there.

7 for Hester, equalling Skelton, and Hestor might not be a bad shout - Dressage's sudden rise needs recognised and Hester is the wellspring of the whole thing, plus he's one of the few openly LGB male Olympians from GB and it's his 7th go My 'fear' is Tom Daley because...and i'm not proud of this...I can't abide him. Pure nails on a blackboard stuff.

I will say this. much slower race, but in the last 100 Phoebe put more metres into Reekie at Trials than Keely did today. But that was off the back of 29.1, 29.1, 29.1 today

The thing today was Keely laid off the pacemaker (so no 'draft') but absolutely ran her own race - exactly the tactics she used to beat Mary earlier this year, and I suspect the tactical game plan they've come up with to neutralise Moraa's ridiculous mucking about with tempo and pace. If Reekie has decided that her best gameplan is to track Keely like a limpet, it's a very good game plan that clearly works for her. It also creates the possibility of a GBR 'wall; in the final if they get there. The rogue element is Gill. How does she react, in particular, to Moraa's antics, given her lack of experience. My hunch is she will reach the final, and when there might just rabbit, deny Moraa the lead and make the race very fast. if so, it plays right into Keely's hands because it forces Moraa's pace up in the first 500, robbing her of her spoiler slow middle 200. we shall see. absolutely intriguing.

Azu, Hinch and a clearly-returning-from-a-worse-injury-than-he-admitted Hughes actually looked ok here, 2 sub 10, 1 10 flat. Medal chances are not huge, but if Hughes keeps coming back, the man ran 9.83 last year, and Noah and Oblique aside, no-one is pulling up trees. An Azu-Hinch-NMB-Hughes team is still a strong medal outfit in my view - even today Azu and Hinch were on a flyer before calamity struck. For me the medal chance tiers are (out of 10) 10: Should win gold, roaring favourite - Keely 9: Very strong gold chance, probably favourite - Matt 8: 7: Good gold chance, strong medal favourite - Josh, Molly 6: Outside gold chance , strong medal chance - W4x1, M4x4 5: 4: good medal chance, gold unlikely - Jemma, M4 x 1, KJT 3: outside medal chance, worth a watch - W 4 x 4, Pattison/Wightman, Muir/Bell, 2: As 3: but less so - Zharnel 100, Dina 100, Sember 100h 1: who the hell knows - X x 4 0: Won't see that coming - Anyone else. for the record, in 2012 I'd have put Farah !0 and 9 in the two events, ennis 9 Ohurougu 5, Grabarz 2 and rutherford 6

Here's the problem - only care about medals ? The best chance is probably the mixed 4 x 4, using Matt, Charlie Dobson, Anna A and Lavaia. That team is probably evens to win the damn thing, certainly in the top 4 favourites - the dutch women are faster, but their men are mediocre, the American's absolutely will not put their top 4 in - no way on earth. The top Irish team are strong, but this team looks stronger. Jamaicas men are week, relatively. But there is also no way Matt would agree to run this. He'd be insane to. So do you put out a decent but not great side, only to finish 5th or 6th, or worse, while a handful of teams prioritise it to get a much desired medal (e,g, the Irish, the dutch) and the American understrength team beats GB understrength team? Or do you give a couple of your squad members a run-out so they can claim to be Olympians, and possibly, possibly, sneak a bronze if everyone does the same?

the official website has a named mixed team. It's...underwhelming.

Reardon has outed himself as the next incoming, should be pretty exciting for Tokyo.

I think he just leapt just below Keely on the gold medal chance list with that..he was even easing back very slightly in last twenty to my eye, probably because of lactic agony! If only Sam Reasrdon (44.7!!) was in the relay team, they'd be capable of something frightening. Keely is in terminator mode at this point, again leaning back running her own race which I assume is the chosen tactic to beat Moraa's mucking about with pace. Reekie will be absolutely delighted with the time and the success of the shadow Keely tactic, and Georgia may well have overtaken Laura as GBR's best bolter for a minor medal in 1500 with that closing pace. not that Laura was slow at 1:57! Molly does seem to be coming a little off the boil, but still 3rd in a world class field. Mile was a shambles. Two of the most accident prone runners in the modern game collide in the first 20 metres to take out two actual Olympic selections. If they were cyclists people would be harranging their lack of handling technique. GBR women's relay look lit, and the slighly - only sightly - lacklustre 200 runs for Dina and Daryll can probably be put down to that relay earlier which neilther alfred nor Thomas ran. Strong run from Adeleke, though given Pryce's run later, her 400 medal hopes look less secure than a week or two ago. Zharnel obviously still coming back from an injury which was clearly worse than admitted at the time,s till 10.00 flat is decent - azu and hinchliffe ran very well, and if we can get the proper relay band back together they have a shot. Good show form KJT, hopefully I sign of stuff coming back together inn time - gold may be beyond here, but any Olympic medal would be a good story. Strong runs in both the 400 and 400 hurdles for the brit girls, but behind amazing internationals...still, smells like a decent relay squad there too..

Sounds like another nice little nod to the Tailteann Games and the GAAs early role in athletics and Olympicism for Ireland,

No, she's listed for all three track events and the road race, but not the time trial. I expect that means she is the reserve for the road race if one of them picks up an injury - although the Backstedt sisters were named as reserves by Welsh cycling. anna Morris is listed for the Road Race, Time Trial and team pursuit - but NOT for madison or omnium Apart from Evans and Barker, only Jess Roberts is named for anything other than team pursuit - she's named for madison. At this stage, either Morris or Georgi is doing the time trial, Barker-Evans is the madison team (and a good one), with one of them also dong the omnium - if Barker has to do Road, it'll be Evans, otherwise I think Barker.

Semi interesting foible. The athletes are now entered in the database, and obviously alternates are also there. Interestingly, Tarling remains listed for track as well as road - obviously, he's an alternate But more interesting is that Elinor Barker is listed for both track and road...

What was really dreadfully funny was right up until he went crazy, it was abundently clear what an awesome prospect he actually is. I just hope the mockery doesn't tempt him to say, 'screw this' and return chastened to the United States, never to return.

They kind of are - these are the photos taken to create their accreditation for the village and venues - they aren't meant to be aesthetic, they are for their ID lanyards, but it also gives the organisers a photo on every athlete to use on thier website.

Sadly it's quite common for the start list - as opposed to the entry list - not to appear until the morning of the event. and that goes well beyond cycling.

They are clearly including named alternates - for example. GBR have named Anna Henderson for the TT, but not yet named their second rider - in the entries both Anna morris and Pfeiffer Georgi are named -but Lizzie Deignan isn't. So it seems clear a list of entries - plus named reserve/alternates - has been given in a lot of events.

Hmmm...was there an issue with Phelps and weed in his career...though its hard to see the USA sending home someone who took a drink underage for example.

I'm SO there with you - I have the London DVDS, the slightly inferior RIO DVDS and Sweet fanny for Tokyo; there is a value to those sort of reviews, and even if we now stream, that sort of shit would sell on Netflix, EASY. People like a neat present with a bow.

TBH I quite like the system, much better than the old days when the rights ran out and you suddenly couldn't get a hold of anything.

It just strikes me as odd naming Morris in both Road and track - thus creating, in theory, a free quota space, without at least considering sticking someone in. I'm assuming the madison team is evans and barker, and possibly barker also in the omnium.

No worries, honestly, no offence was taken at all, just thought it was useful to show it on the forum. All good. the problem is they have to put him somewhere, and anywhere else is a bloody liability too.

For the record M 4 x 2 heat Women's 4 x 1 Women's 4 x 200 no prepicks in the medleys I can see

Now note, this is JUST the heat - perhas the calculate they still have a shout of top 8 even with these two (I might even agree)