Oldira

Wiffen seemed well off the pace in his final today, only barely scraped home in fourth in what was expected to be a four man race. Wonder if he'd be better just focusing on the 1500m for Paris,  rather than going for both events, the other three seem to have his number at this point.

It was never really in doubt but the men's hockey team have secured their spot at the Olympic qualifiers next year after beating Scotland today.

According to her Instagram account Amy Broadhurst is staying amateur and trying again for Olympic qualification next year.

He’d be the best chance yeah but anything can happen in 50m free
 
He mightn’t get it this year, but young John Shortt will get the time before Paris in the 200m back
 
The rest will likely be waiting on OCT times and relays next year 

Mona McSharry becomes the 42nd qualified athlete for Paris 2024. She set a new PB and Irish record of 1:05.55 mins this morning to go through as 2nd fastest qualifier for this evening’s semis of the women’s 100m breaststroke. What a swim!

Ellen Walshe achieved the OQT in the women's 200 IM, just missing out on the final in 9th place.

Wellthey havent given up as much as Team Ireland. Highly unlikely that we qualify a\for Paris in Triathlon so thats us down one sport at least.

It looks like we have our 37th member of Team Ireland with Brian Fay breaking Alistair Cragg's long-standing Irish record in the men's 5000m tonight in Heusden-Zolder, Belgium. His time of 13:01.40 mins dips well below the Olympic qualifying time (13:05:00 mins).

The priority boat for the mens sweep squad seems to have shifted from the four to the pair with Ross Corrigan and Nathan Timoney who were both in the middle of the four last year together in a pair for world cup iii. Its only day one but initial results are positive for this new pair. The plan was I assume still to try and qualify the four and while not being fast enough at trials is concerning it's not the end (Might be for Ronan Byrne though). I don't mind the four not racing here if it wasn't good enough. It has two months to be ready for worlds. I just wonder why we didn't also enter a four for under23 worlds. John kearney, Jack Dorney and Adam Murphy are all still eligible at under23 level and Andrew Sheahan who was in the under23 four last year seems to have been kind of chucked in a single for that event. Its frustrating they're not in Lucerne but Antonio Maurogiovanni standards are basically you're good enough for the olympics or you don't race at all. The four can still qualify along with the pair although the goalposts for them may well end up being FOQR next year. It's a very young boat apart from Fionnan McQuillan Tolan and can improve a lot in a year.
 
Europeans was bad like really bad but I still feel really good about qualification and medal hopes for this rowing squad. It didn't seem like it because medal wise we were good at world cup ii last year but almost all of our boats improved relative to the competition as the year went on last year and I would expect the same this year. We have found a mens double that works with Philip Doyle and Daire Lynch, Paul and Fintan are back which always makes things feel much better, Women's lightweight double needs work if they want to medal again this year but i'm not worrried about qualification yet, the womens double,pair and four will all qualify although admittedly only the four looks like a definite medal contender and its a major question mark right now. Emily Hegarty is still injured but if we were changing the combination here I suspect she would be the odd one out. Imogen Magner came into the boat for Lucerne. My interpretation of that was they wanted to race the pair of Long and Hanlon together but it might be that Magner is actually a contender to race in the four. They posted the second fastest time of the heats this morning and all of their main competition is here outside of the USA.
 
Look if we fall apart over the next couple of days here and then none of our concerningly small selection at under23 worlds looks good i'll be worried but for now we have seven boats that I would be shocked if they fail to qualify, all but one of which at least in theory could medal. I personally would like to see us qualify an eighth, ninth or even tenth boat and well we still can. The mens single is up in the air and Colsh being back in the double for under 23s probably isn't a great sign. I still want a quad, I don't think I'm going to get my wish though. The four as outligned earlier could still qualify and has the athletes to do it and if Alison Bergin can medal again at under23 worlds in the womens single we are back in business there too. We should still feel great about this squad and expectations for qualification and medals should both still be very high well at least for now.

Sarah Lavin of  qualified for the Paris Olympics at the 100m hurdles today.
You might not know that her boyfriend/partner was the rally driver Craig Breen, who was killed practicing for Rally Croatia three months ago.

Sarah Lavin is qualified in the women’s 100m Hurdles   

No. It’s explicit that once qualified you cannot send anyone to the rest of the qualification tournaments at that weight class.

I am glad i was wrong because he was much better

It's time for another update guys! Our men's rugby team will join the women at the Paris Olympics next year. Great day for us!

I don't know why there's so much people against alcohol?  
 
there are so many alcoholic things that are so good...for instance, I just drank for dinner such a good wine (Grecanico, white Sicilian, for those who know...and for those who don't know, just try...I'm sure you'll appreciate a lot, especially with vegetarian and/or fish related dishes) and I also just had a good Whiskey "on the rocks" to end my evening "in style"  

Not the first person to make that mistake!  

I’ll have a go for  
 
Athletics - 15
 
Quietly optimistic about Irish athletics. I’m hoping Rhasidat Adeleke continues her development at 400m. We’d need at least one relay team to reach 15 but I think we can do it
 
Badminton - 1
 
Just Nhat Nguyen in the mens
 
Boxing - 8
 
5 women and 3 men. Amy Broadhurst has moved to 66kg and I’m predicting she’ll win gold in Paris. 2 medals in Tokyo, we will surpass that
 
Canoe Slalom - 1
 
We have 3 decent C1 paddlers and they’ll get one of the quotas and fight for it between them
 
Cycling Road - 3
 
2 men and 1 woman for the first time. Mia Griffin is a world tour rider this year and I’m putting her down in hope more than expectation
 
Cycling Track - 4
 
the women’s pursuit team will qualify and compete in the madison too
 
Diving - 2
 
Hopeful that Tanya Watson will return and Jake Passmore graduates from the junior ranks
 
Equestrian - 7
 
show jumping and eventing are already in. We’ll add a solo dressage competitor. The show jumping team will win a medal. 
 
Golf - 4
 
Any number of men could join McIlroy. Leona Maguire and Stephanie Meadow will go to their 3rd games. Medal chances in men’s and women’s 
 
Gymnastics - 2
 
Rhys McClenaghan in pommel and an all round woman, probably Emma Slevin. Hoping our world champ can get that Olympic medal 
 
Modern Pentathlon - 1
 
Natalya Coyle is rumoured to be on the comeback trail. Sive Brassil may qualify too 
 
Rowing - 18
 
Mens and women’s fours. Men’s and women’s lightweight sculls. Men’s and women’s pair. Women’s double. 2 medals with McCarthy and O’Donovan retaining gold. 
 
Rugby 7s - 24
 
Initially I was pessimistic about our chances to qualify but I now think our men will win at the Euro qualifier and the women will get in at the last chance qualifier. Medal chance for the men (outside)
 
Sailing - 3
 
49er and Laser Radial. Laser is a possibility too. Going young Eve McMahon gets the nod at radial 
 
Swimming - 6
 
No relay this time but 6 individual with Daniel Wiffen being an outside chance of a medal in the distance events in the pool
 
Taekwondo - 1
 
Jack Woolley will make his second games and anything could happen. 
 
Other sports were we have chances to qualify include Hockey (very much a down year for men and women), Triathlon (our Olympians effectively took 2022 off), weightlifting (because the qualification rules are insane) and shooting (men’s and women’s trap are somewhat competitive).

When you are talking about a small country with a single digit medal expectation, the odd result here or there can have an undue effect on how we view our success - we ain't USA or China or GB or Germany, and we probably shouldn't think in the ways they think. A qualifier for us is, and should be, a big deal. A finalist for us is a REALLY big deal. A medalist is a hero for life, but qualifiers and finalists are a better measure, I think.
 
In gymnastics, I'm reasonably confident Rhys will make Paris, and if he hits his big routine on the day, he medals IMHO - probably not gold because there are a small number of difficulty monsters who can simply outmuscle his great technique, but on a good day with a fair wind, anything is possible. The addition of Dom Cunningham, a solid AA worker and a really solid vaulter and the emergence of Eamon Montgomery as a top class floor worker is also exciting.
 
In Athletics, if you aren't excited by the astonishing Rhasidat Adaleke - 9th in the world, 5th in Europe, at the end of a brutal NCAA season in her first part time year in the event, you best see a doctor - nothing is guaranteed, certainly not for Paris, but Rhasidat is an order of talent above what we are used to here. I'm strongly hoping Gina Moses comes back from her injuries too, and Israel pushes on from his superb season. Ciara Mageean's breakthrough to 'Muir' level has been revelatory, and I'm genuinely excited for what would probably be her last games, but there's also a lot of talented jrs and cadets floating about in the middle distance. Kate O'Connor also looks an exciting prospect.
 
In swimming we've unfortunately lost a couple of guys in the last few months to GBR, taking the Firth route, but that is what it is. McSharry and Wiffen I watch with interest. Rudd is making bricks with straw in that program, and my main fear is he goes back to GBR as head coach - he and Mel Marshall seem the obvious candidates next time round.
 
Rowing and boxing remain our mainstays, and we're world class in boxing, and in lightweight rowing, while our heavyweight rowing is coming along nicely. Given where we were in rowing a decade a go, it's kind of astonishing.
 
Sadly, in cycling, we seem to be in a minor trough, but McIlroy's return to form bodes well for the golf.
 
In rugby 7's we just won bronze in the Worlds. We are a real, if outside, medal shout in that sport. I think the women will qualify too. In hockey, our golden period appears to be over, but...

I've done an appraisal of the Irish performance here at this year's Rowing World Championships and it has been a hugely successful championships for our team.
 
Overall picture:
 
1 gold and 2 bronze in Olympic class events
4 A-Finals in Olympic class events
 
If we were to project forward 12 months, 5 boats would qualify to Paris 2024 if they replicate these results at the next World Championships while the men's four and men's double sculls finish just one and two places outside of the qualifying spots respectively.
 
On evidence of this World Championships, if all these crews continue to progress, they all have a decent chance of making it to Paris 2024. The 2 crews who were furthest away from what would be a qualifying spot, the men's and women's single sculls, are both 20 years-old and making their senior championship debuts so there is still hope we can make sufficient progress in the next 12-18 months.
 
I can't wait to see what the men's four do over the next season, 8th place on their senior debut was a phenomenal result for this young crew. I am hoping they can make it into the qualifying spots at next year's worlds.
 
 
 
 
 Event  Athlete(s) Final Place in Final Overall Rank  Men's Lightweight Double Sculls  Paul O'Donovan (28)
 Fintan McCarthy (25)
A 1st  
1st
 
Top 7 next year Worlds qualify for Paris 2024
 Women's Lightweight Double Sculls  Margaret Cremen (23)
 Aoife Casey (23)
A 3rd  
3rd
 
Top 7 next year Worlds qualify for Paris 2024
 Women's Double Sculls  Zoe Hyde (25)
 Sanita Puspure (40)
A 3rd  
3rd
 
Top 11 next year Worlds qualify for Paris 2024
 Women's Four  Emily Hegarty (24)
 Fiona Murtagh (27)
 Eimear Lambe (25)
 Aifric Keogh (30)
A 6th  
6th
 
Top 7 next year Worlds qualify for Paris 2024
 Women's Pair  Tara Hanlon (24)
 Natalie Long (32)
B 2nd  
8th
 
Top 11 next year Worlds qualify for Paris 2024
 Men's Four  John Kearney (21)
 Ross Corrigan (23)
 Nathan Timoney (22)
 Jack Dorney (21)
B 2nd  
8th
 
Top 7 next year Worlds qualify for Paris 2024
 Men's Double Sculls  Philip Doyle (30)
 Konan Pazzaia (21)
C 1st  
13th
 
Top 11 next year Worlds qualify for Paris 2024
 Men's Single Sculls  Brian Colsh (20) C 3rd  
15th
 
Top 9 next year Worlds qualify for Paris 2024
 Women's Single Sculls  Alison Bergin (20) C 5th  
17th
 
Top 9 next year Worlds qualify for Paris 2024
 

I have to say how much I have enjoyed our former 400m star David Gillick interviewing our athletes after their performances. He always hits the right note and is professional whilst also understanding of the achievements and disappointments as a former athlete who had his ups and downs. Hopefully we get more like him in our national coverage of sport going forward. 

Irish record for Adeleke 
 
After 48 races this year, in lane 1, still doesn’t train fully for this event, still 19 years old and 5th in Europe …. just amazing performance 

On the rowing... Philip Doyle posted on his instagram that he's in a pre-Worlds training camp in Italy so it'll be interesting to see what kind of team we send there. The women's 6 (4+2) are definitely in Italy too 

2 years out, here's some sport by sports thoughts
 
Rowing - Obviously in good shape. The lightweight double are amazing. Seems like Fintan has got stronger. The women's lightweight have changed and they seem to have improved. Still young but might be too early to call them medal contenders. The womens four and the womens pair will need to be sorted in terms of boat make up but I'd expect both to qualify easily. Women's double is a bit more up in the air as Sanita is getting on and doesn't seem to stay fit. Would be amazing to get that 8 in! We've a very good young nucleus on the men's side but Paris might be a bit away. The double of Byrne and Doyle has been split up with Doyle going solo for now. Corrigan added to Byrne but none of them selected for the Europeans so obviously work to do there
 
Boxing - The big decision is whether Kellie Harrington or Amy broadhurst gets the 60kg spot. I'd expect qualifiers at most womens weights and if Lisa O'Rourke continues to develop, she'll be a medal favourite. Others like Michaela Walshe will need a bit of luck with the draw etc. AIdan got that luck in Tokyo but looked great at recent commonwealths. The men's team is in the early stages of reinventing itself but young talents like Jude gallagher, Dylan Eagleson, Gabriel Dossen, Jack Marley and Dean Clancy are all exciting
 
Athletics - Obviously Adeleke is our most exciting talent in years. Remains to be seen if she can medal on the world stage but great to have her competitive at such a young age. She'll still only be 21 in Paris! We'll have roughly the same qualifiers as always and very few chances of reaching a final, never mind a medal. They've been smart to target relays so hopefully that continues
 
Equestrian - The show jumping are definitely world class. But we all know how tricky that sport can be to get right on the day/days. 3 day eventing always out performs the showjumpers but only really Cathal Daniels can be considered world class with Rioghan Rua. We might have one in dressage too
 
Swimming. We actually have 3 world class swimmers now in McSharry, Walshe and Wiffen. Likely no medals but there's definitely finals potential there. Again, we'll see how they attack relay qualification for Paris
 
Sailing - Eve McMahon and Finn Lynch have both have outstanding results in the single seater boats over last 18 months with McMahon being by far the best young sailor in the world. Paris might be too soon for her. Waddilove and Dickson may be medal contendors
 
Cycling - the road race may be a lottery but we have quality riders and should qualify 4. Alice Sharpe might even qualify on the road for the women. The womens team pursuit should qualify giving us a chance in the crazy madison too. Hopefully we get the solo omnium spot too for a team of 5. Looks like JB Murphy is the only track man at the moment
 
Golf - We'll qualify 4 and have chances with Maguire and whoever the men are
 
Taekwondo - Jack should qualify but he rarely makes medal matches at the very top
 
Gymnastics - Fingers crossed for Rhys and we'll likely have a woman in too
 
Canoeing - I expect us to qualify in the C1, could be any of Jegou, Hendrick or Cochrane. 
 
Badminton - Nhat Nguyen will qualify
 
Shooting - Maybe Aoife Gormally will continue to improve. Ian O'Sullivan looks to have lost all form
 
Triathlon - Carolyn Hayes hasn't competed since Tokyo. Hopefully she's back at it soon. The men look way off the standard required
 
Modern Pentathlon - Coyle isn't officially retired but hasn't competed since Tokyo. Brisell might qualify but wouldn't be guaranteed
 
Judo - Ben Fletcher is another who hasn't competed. Without him we likely won't have a qualifier
 
In the team sports, the hockey women are in a bit of a post Tokyo lull. Both they and the men need to improve. The rugby 7s teams both look to have stepped up and we might qualify in both this time. The women look much stronger than previous years. The men's football team aren't ruled out yet either....
 

EQUESTRIAN
 

 
 
Equestrian FEI World Championships 2022
 
Herning (DEN) - 6 August 2022 - 14 August 2022  
 
   
 
 
 
The FEI Equestrian World Championships for Dressage and Jumping took place in Herning this week and offered a first chance for nations to book their place for the 2024 Olympic Games. France as hosts in 2024 have an automatic berth for the Olympic Games, so the battle was on for the other nations to finish inside those coveted Olympic quota positions.
 
First up was dressage where the top 6 nations (excluding France) would secure there tickets for the team dressage event at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
Ireland reached new heights in the last Olympic cycle in dressage, culminating in a team qualifying for the Olympic Games for the very first time. A series of unfortunate injuries and horse retirements, led to the ultimate decision from the Irish federation to decline their team quota on that occasion.
Nevertheless, Ireland are back with a new campaign to qualify for the Olympics. It will be a much more difficult task on this occasion as they do not have the experience of Judy Reynolds and Vancouver K to draw upon on this campaign. However, the good news is that unlike in the previous Olympic cycle, Ireland is actually fielding a dressage team at the World Championships which is an indication that dressage in this country is still in a relatively strong place in comparison to times gone by.
 
 
It was always going to be a mammoth task for the Irish team to make it into the Olympic quota positions but they will have gained invaluable experience here and the team of Anna Merveldt (Esporim), Alex Baker (Dutchman), Abigail Lyle (Giraldo) and Sorrell Klatzko (Turbo) put in a valiant effort, finishing in 16th place of the 19 competing nations.
 
The Olympic quotas were claimed by Denmark, Great Britain, Germany, Sweden, Netherlands and United States.
 

 
 
 
Ireland will have another shot at qualifying a dressage team at the 2023 European Championships in Riesenbeck, Germany where the top 3 currently unqualified nations will gain tickets to the 2024 Olympic Games. Based on the result of these championships, the competition will come from the following nations:
 
7. Spain 215.808%
9. Austria 212.344%
10. Portugal 210.979%
-----------------------------------
11. Finland 210.606%
13. Belgium 209.301%
14. Switzerland 207.019%
16. Ireland 201.723%
17. Norway 201.708%
18. Poland 193.587%
 
 
So we can see that getting riders scoring an average of 70% will be essential to make the step up to qualify for the Olympic Games in the team event. At these championships, our team riders were averaging around 67%, so a lot of work to do but the dream is certainly not dead.
 
 
 
 
Up next were the Team Jumping Championships, a crucial first chance for nations to book their Olympic spots, and an event in which Ireland has not had positive results in the past few Olympic cycles. Gaining an Olympic team quota here would take a huge amount of pressure off our riders for the rest of the qualification cycle and tasked with this goal were Denis Lynch (Brooklyn Heights), Bertram Allen (Pacino Amiro), Cian O'Connor (C Vier 2) and Daniel Coyle (Legacy). The top 5 nations (excluding France) would secure their tickets to the 2024 Olympic Games.
 
Things didn't look too good after the speed round on Day 1. Ireland were languishing back in 11th position after the speed round and knew they had work to do to make it into the Top 10 nation team final on Friday.
Ireland continued to make hard work of things but did squeeze into the Top 10, a clear round from Cian O'Connor helping the team climb up to 9th and keep the dream of Olympic qualification alive.
 
The final round proved to be a war of attrition with many nations dropping fences and dropping places in the leaderboard. Meanwhile, Ireland started with a bang with a clear round from Bertram Allen and just a single time fault from Denis Lynch helping the Irish climb the table. A solid round of 5 faults from Cian O'Connor kept the team on track for qualification, and despite a nervy finish after Daniel Coyle failed to improve on the team score, qualification was ultimately secured and in the end, Ireland finished less than 1 fault behind the bronze medal. A 4th place finish from Ireland, securing Olympic qualification in Team Jumping and taking Ireland's first Olympic 2024 quotas across all sports.
 
Fantastic result for our team jumpers and as with all Irish jumping teams, they will head to Paris 2024 with ambitions of taking home a medal. It of course means Ireland will also have the full quota of riders in the Individual Jumping event at the Olympics as the 3 team riders will also take part in the Individual competition.
 
 

 
 
 
 
Paris 2024 Qualification - Team Ireland
 
 
 
 
IRELAND

 
3
Total Athletes
0
Men
0
Women
2
Total Events
1
Total Sports
 
 
 
 
List of Team Ireland Qualifiers
 
 
 
 

Equestrian
 
 Event Athlete Qualification Route    Team Jumping  Team Quota - TBD
 2022 FEI World Championships - Team Jumping: 4th Place
 August 12, 2022
 Team Quota - TBD
 2022 FEI World Championships - Team Jumping: 4th Place
 August 12, 2022
 Team Quota - TBD
 2022 FEI World Championships - Team Jumping: 4th Place
 August 12, 2022
   Individual Jumping  Individual Quota - TBD  Team Jumping members will also compete in the Individual Event
 August 12, 2022
 Individual Quota - TBD  Team Jumping members will also compete in the Individual Event
 August 12, 2022
 Individual Quota - TBD  Team Jumping members will also compete in the Individual Event
 August 12, 2022
 
 Events
 
2
 
 
 
 Athletes
 
3
 
 
 

We just got our fancy new Team Ireland Club so what better way to open our first thread than with the exciting news of our first 2024 Olympic quotas!
 
Ireland have just earned a team quota place for the Team Jumping Equestrian competition at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games courtesy of a 4th place finish at the World Equestrian Games in Herning, Denmark.
 
The team consisting of Denis Lynch, Bertram Allen, Cian O'Connor and Daniel Coyle put in a battling performance in the final round of the team championships to climb from 9th at the start of day to 4th at the finish and inside the Top 5 which crucially awards Ireland the right to send a team to the Olympics in 2 years time.
 
Ireland finished just less than 1 time fault behind Great Britain who claimed the bronze medal.
 
 
Congratulations to all involved! Team Ireland 2024 is now officially up and running!
 
 
The 5 Olympic qualifying team spots were allocated as follows:
 

 
 
Cian O'Connor, Denis Lynch and Bertram Allen all advance to Sunday's individual final consisting of the top 25 individual performers at these championships.