SalamAkhi

There is a misunderstanding here. The so-called challengers are the minnows, while those who can cause an upset are the real "challengers" as we may understand it.

Nope. 4 spots in the 2023 World Series, then one spot for each continent, then one spot at the final repechage tournament. This time WR included the case where both USA and Canada qualified via the WS, in order to avoid a team like Mexico getting a free ticket, before it happened. Surprised they didn't foresee the possibility that Australia, NZ and Fiji did. If so I doubt they would award PNG a continental spot. @rybak this window is probably the best for Poland to qualify (assuming they won't progress to an even better status in the coming years). France is automatically qualified, Russia excluded, Spain rebuilding. The only issue is that both Ireland and GB probably won't qualify through the WS.

Next year's World Series will be interesting. Lots of teams will be in contention for the 4 automatic spots and the outcome will be decisive towards the continental representation. If Argentina can repeat last edition's performance then Uruguay/Chile could have a huge shot at making the Olympics. Should South Africa continue to crumble (though the CG proved they're far from over), Kenya would be in big trouble etc.

🍀 , and with the best performances. , and with the worst. Really pleased with Uruguay, they could fight for more than the relegation in the World Series though I fear most of the squad won't appear much of the time.

Pre-round of 16 results : 🍀 - : 24-0 - : 31-7 - : 33-7 - : 24-7 - : 19-0 - : 33-10 - : 7-19 - : 12-15 a.e.t Round of 16 : - 🍀 - - - - - - -

Top 8 in Europe, nothing new for a French Olympic sport team If they want to get some recognition they'll have to achieve more.

Annoncer ça à deux ans des Jeux c'est osé. Poids j'ai du mal à y croire mais en javelot avoir un athlète ne me parait pas impossible, en tout cas impossible de dire que cela ne sera pas le cas.

Rugby 7s. Last year at the Olympics for example.

They drafted some XV players in for this tournament. Hope they won't appear in the World Series with a developpment team.

En ce qui concerne la question de l'ouverture pour l'athlétisme, je pense que la FFA (et en sous-main l'ANS) prendra ceux qui peuvent être pris. Ça ne veut pas dire que les JO seront Galaswinda, loin de là. Si cette politique avait été appliquée à Eugene la selection aurait été "juste" marginalement élargie, et le fait d'être à la maison n'y changera rien.

Pas trop compris le tableau. Dans la plupart des épreuves la liste semble se baser sur Munich mais en gardant parfois ceux qui semblent au bout du rouleau, et en éjectant ceux qui semblent tout juste commencer à pointer le bout de leur nez. Pourquoi pas Tual ou un autre (Meziane, Kozar, que sais-je Anselmini) sur 800 ? Pourquoi Compaoré mais pas un ou plusieurs jeunes ? Raffin (même si décevant en compétition), Hodebar, Gogois ? Valentin Lavillenie au lieu de Ammirati. Konaté tout seul à la longueur. Ombissa ? Quid de Bonnin ? en fait je me suis basé sur les minimas 2020 tokyo , et ceux qui les ont deja fait ...

Lol, once again. Not even funny anymore.

She was always in. The only moment her spot was in danger was between the first and the second JT. Incredible 800 to come, Thiam needs to beat Vetter by a second and a half, which, PB-wise, seems manageable. Even moreso since she knows what she has to do (stick to Thiam during two laps).

Meh. Looks good this way but the camera angles during the action don't give the same feeling. I actually prefer the older version, this one is still quite small, but much more standardized. Shot put area in the center is also meh.

Yeah, that's the main obstacle. Back to back geographically near tournaments would be a first step (like Chile/Uruguay usually do). I hope WR, who's not really making efforts to develop XV outside of Tier 1,5, will help making it happen.

In fact they probably used 2021 continental results to define the participating teams. Which would explain Lithuania M and Georgia over Italy and Spain or Kenya W over Madagascar, Tunisia and Uganda. Seems odd but this tournament is used to promote a team to the 22/23 WS, starting quite soon. If the Challenger Series are set to come back to normal in 2023 (January ?) then this year's results will be used there. Actually this would be dramatic for Wales and Japan. They're 99% out of the WS for 22/23. But Japan only finished 3rd in the Asian Champs this year, thus missing the 2022 World Cup, and if none of HK and South Korea gets promoted in August, then Japan is out of next year's Challenger (if format stays the same). Wales did not take part to the 2021 European Champs so they got relegated to the Trophy this year. This means they have no chance of getting a 2023 Challenger spot (if no little arrangement between friends).

Challenger Series II announced. They will take place in Santiago de Chile on the 12-14th of August. Actually the word "series" is kind of a joke to describe this tournament, as there is no ... series. Pretty much a revival of the HK qualifying tournament. I hope the first format will come back next year and stabilize a World Series DII. Some notable withdrawals. For the men behind Germany no Belgium, Italy or Portugal but Lithuania and Georgia. For the women no Scotland but Belgium. Scotland is focusing on the CwG, the team is not meant to be viable in the long term (actually a bunch of XV players reunited for the occasion). I guess same applies for the withdrawing men teams, but that's a bit surprising. Germany has to be the favorite on the men's draw but they will have a hard time getting the job done. Besides the two other Europeans (and they have some pretty good assets), Jamaica and PNG, every team has got a decent chance of winning. For the women Poland is in pole position imo. Their showings in the EC vs near-full strength France (R1) and Ireland are impressive, so is their appearance in the World Series earlier this season. China would probably be favorite if not for their complete disappearance since Tokyo, what to expect from them is unknown. Japan and Sout Africa are obviously candidates.

Rugby 7s tournaments are organized on two days, sometimes three. This time around it was three. 11 a.m is an usual schedule for the first matches of the day, and on Sunday, it's always a knockout (either semi or quarter-finals). Poland v Scotland was in fact a semi-final, working as an unofficial decider for the overall title since the EC are held on two aggregate tournaments and Poland won the first beating Scotland in the process.

Pathetic crowd, at least in athletics. Continous boos and cheering French athletes failures. Isn't it time to get over it, seriously ?

beat 3-0 in the European Golden League semis. Second straight win against Croatia after last year's Euro, and still FIVB decided to send Croatia to the WCh to replace Russia. They have proved time and time again that awarding wild-cards was within their capabilities, but not this time. Great progress and hosting the next Olympics is not enough it seems.

They were alone in Paris then.

The commentators lol. "An accomplished French team". That's literally the first time ever this team gets to start an official Team Sprint on a 250m track

How surprising ... what about Iraq, Afghanistan and so on ?

And probably for the evening session only, for whatever reason ...