SalamAkhi

Awful coverage. Streams working intermittently (and no replay available), no commentary, loud music in the background, no score, no time, horrendous pitches. An utter shame for World Rugby, and a very bad sign as they plan on shrinking the World Series next year. If that's all they can offer for T2 teams, just stop the circus right away with historical teams (but not XV powerhouses ) such as Kenya and Canada possibly out next year ... No real surprises on the pitch, apart from South Korea, even weaker than expected and the Czech Republic. Germany and Poland still the favorites for now.

Challenger is around the corner, here are the pools for the 1st tournament. Stars (from 1 to 5) are my personal ratings for the title. Men Pool A Germany ***** Belgium *** Tonga ***** Zimbabwe ** Pool B Italy ** Chile **** Papua New Guinea * Hong Kong **** Pool C Jamaica * South Korea ** Brazil ** Uganda *** Women Pool D Colombia ** Hong Kong *** Poland ***** Paraguay * Pool E Czechia ** Madagascar ** Mexico * South Africa *** Pool F Papua New Guinea * Thailand *** Belgium *** China **** Of course I'm not aware of everything going on in these squads, or even all the results they may have had in the last six months or so, but I reckon these ratings might prove to be pretty accurate. The groups don't seem really balanced in the men's competition, especially with Tonga putting things together and Belgium improving (A), and on the other hand South Korea taking once again this Series a bit off-handedly and Uruguay winning last year's edition hence the presence of a weaker South American squad, in this instance Brazil (C). In this very group Uganda is also missing its key player, Philipp Wokorach, staying in France with his 15-a-side club. Among the 4 invitational teams in this year's World Series, HK and above all Tonga made the best impression, Uganda and Chile did not win a single match. The rest is unknown quantity but Germany has been a top seed for a couple of years now. For the women the favorite must be Poland, but they did not take part to any tournament this year (European teams are unfairly biased by these invitational system) and are missing their captain Karolina Jaszczyszyn. China is struggling a tad since the Olympics but their showing in HK 22' was convincing. HK in their home tournament 23' were promising, so were South Africa, at home this time around. Colombia and particularly Papua New Guinea were really poor, the fact that PNG had the opportunity to play two tournaments while others could not even play one ... Thailand is my dark horse despite the absence of their speedster Jirawan Chutrakun, playing pro in the Japanese 7s championship. The two other European teams, especially Belgium, turned pro earlier this year, can do some damage too.

Well, they are not bad teams (I was pleasantly surprised by Sri Lanka at the CG) but let's be honest, they won't feature. Malaysia is not even assured to take part to the OQT as they finished last in the 2022 Asian Series, but the format is not known at the moment. Japan's main opponents will be Hong Kong (China ) , whose team is now fully professional, and South Korea. We've already had a glimpse of what HK can produce these past weeks (1-1 against Japan), and shall see them in the Challenger Series later this month, along with South Korea. Less known and established but capable of a surprise are the United Arab Emirates, with their contingent of naturalized players. Then PR China could cause an upset, like Sri Lanka and the Philippines.

Japan is far from being qualified also. Last qualifier they took part in (for the World Cup), they did not even manage to make top 2.

Would be interesting to see her line up in a competitive 800, with adversity and, of course, pacing. Probably sub-2 ? But we know she can achieve this kind of feats, heptathlon gold is not given.

For Singapore : A B C D

Should be the 8 from Tokyo + Ireland and Japan.

Did (not) age well.

: Knotten is a reliable athlete, low ceiling but strong enough to make the cut and a secure option for the relays. I reckon Arnekleiv has guaranteed herself a spot now. Then Lien, Johansen, Erdal, Femsteinevik. : They have been very cautious with Tilda Johansson but I think it's time she makes it to the WC team. Brorsson is 32 and her form this year has been underwhelming. Skottheim is a tad younger, it seems she's in the staff's good graces but her shape is highly inconsistent and the good results very scarce lately. Will they try to make some room for Sara Andersson, whose development this year has not been as expected ? : Carrara's shooting is still erratic, but her speed could make up for it ... if no one emerges. Zingerle has stalled, Fauner, Trabucchi or Scattolo are too soft at the moment. : Braisaz will be back. So her, Simon, ACB (but she could well call it a career this week), Chevalier (who talked about retiring last year, she probably changed her mind with this "breakthrough" season) and Jeanmonnot. Chauveau and Colombo (fast skiers but not quite reliable on the range) will be in balance with Botet and Guigonnat (WC ceiling seems high for her but same applied for Jeanmonnot and look where she's now). Richard could get in the mix, but not before Autumn. Same goes for Bondoux, not precise enough.

That's the point. You seem bewildered about Repinc's evolution just to praise to the skies the most precocious athlete immediately after. Sometimes I think "OK this one is particularly mature. Maybe his/her progression will be hampered by whatever, but if he/she only manages to have a constant curve he/she will be one of the best in a few years time" ... and it just doesn't happen.

Well, all three are pretty much established as, at least, competent IBU Cup athletes, if not WC. So no big surprise to find them here, they were in the mix as a dozen others before the race. Overall the Norwegians are not particularly dominant (often the case at this age group), only Nevland and Frey have been seen outside of Norway (which is telling about their abilities in itself), with very decent results but not enough to deem them as n°1 favorites. No Russians also. The French are particularly poor this year. Combined with the performances in the IBU I fear we might have to reduce our expectations in the near future, but that's something to be expected as French biathlon has a lean production process. Repinc has had recurring health issues. But I don't consider Slovenia as an "exotic" nation and I reckon they have the means to get athletes to the top level. Maybe below what could be achieved if the athlete was German, but still. And look at Sara Andersson, just like Repinc she was the next big thing two or three years ago ... and she's Swedish. In fact a lot of young athletes never make it to the senior level. But the bigger nations' pool is wider, with more promising athletes. We're biased because we tend to remember the couple of ones who fulfilled the expectations while failed talents fall into oblivion. The umpteenth Norwegian is more easily forgotten than the one and only Serbian. Overall building expectations over such young athletes is more often than not destined to fail. Particularly young women, with early puberty, unknown margin for progression, most of the time unknown workload, unavoidable health issues ...

Track cycling : Mikhail Yakovlev to

Argentina looks strong and consistent. They will probably qualify at this point if they manage to get to the QF in HK. Pools are out and could do some huge damages : A : B : C : D : B and C look quite straightforward, but Uruguay does have a positive record against GB and Spain-USA are always down to the wire. Making it to the QF would be a gigantic step towards maintaining their spot in the World Series. Uruguay have beaten Fiji, NZ and SA in the span of 7 tournaments (I think it took more than 20 years for France to beat NZ and the W are as rare as you could get) but failing to make the quarters in most of these situations, which is harsh. And let's talk about the horrible ending of Spain-USA ... Spain butchered a QF by failing to shoot the conversion. Literally. A and D on the other hand ... which one of Fiji and Samoa get into the top 4 doesn't really matter as long as NZ and Australia are in too. That last Australian try vs Ireland in the pool stage proved to be VERY costly for Canada. They were on the brink of qualifying for the QF, thus scoring at least 10 points ... and ended up dead last. They're now trailing far behind. South Africa are back to their worst and they better tidy things up or the qualification will get away from them.

Same in France. No lol just kidding of course it doesn't, we rely on sheer luck to grab some talents in individual sports (like Mathilde Gros, former basket-ball player, detected when she tried a watt bike for fun). Paris 2024 here we come. Canada does the same with the RBC Training Ground.

We know Duplantis was not there, no need to remind it every 30s. As we say here "les absents ont toujours tort", congrats to the winner.

France in a medal position after 6 laps out of 8, who would have thought ? 4th at best but

South Africa keeps its place in the top 4 but had Uruguay beaten Canada, they would have had a very bad week-end. I feel the field is more leveled than ever, that's probably why NZ is faring so well. They are usually the more consistent team out there (with South Africa) and they are now building on this to ensure an olympic spot. Any team can miss the Cup and reshuffle the rankings, things can change very quickly. The USA and Ireland are not in the best position at the moment but we're only just passed the halfway point. The current ranking is not ideal in terms of top team representation though. With Argentina and South Africa in, Uruguay (Chile ?) and Kenya (Uganda ?) have a free bye to the Games, whilst Samoa/Australia and Ireland/GB/(Spain ?) will have to battle it out. This means at least one top 10 team out of the O.G. I hope Japan will not make it to the Olympics, looks like they are not even trying.

First, Norway was aware of its 6 quotas in the Men's sprint, but not with the pathway you describe. They had 5 guys in the top 15 + an individual quota. 6 guys were expected to start before F.F.Andersen had to withdraw. They decided not to replace him at first, but then sent Stroemsheim. For the women it's all on the IBU. No one knew how it worked before the "clarification". Actually it seems the IBU changed their minds after a German request for a larger interpretation of the "top 15 rule", hence the surprise. https://twitter.com/zigystardust77/status/1623786050811207680

fielding a Women's Team Sprint ... with Rachele Barbieri, the fastest of the endurance riders. Probably because there is no Elena Bissolati. Of course Vece is in here, with Giada Capobianchi, who's a decent young sprinter. deciding not to try and qualify a Women's Team Pursuit. Odd choice given the recent progress of this young team. Leaves the door open for another country.

Thea Lafond is a triple-jumper. Unequal chances in this lot : also has Lana Pudar (Women's 100/200m Butterfly) and, though a long shot now, Amel Tuka (Men's 800m). is a fair bet. Let's see how Alfred does in Budapest first. is a decent one. Probably less likely now than it was a few years back but McMaster remains one of the best. Problems are : he's struggling with injuries, and the competition will not allow him any leeway. alright. But Gega is not that young though she's at her best at the moment. Women's 3000m steeple is usually quite open when it comes to big competitions, but she'll have a hard time getting a medal. Others are highly unlikely.

And don't forget the Tallinn Combined Events Well it's the Meeting de l'Eure, in Val de Reuil

I know this seems strange but it's Roeiseland, not Steiner, for the last spot.

Rastorgujevs throwing away a potential win on the last shoot in an individual, how unusual

19/20 for Laegreid

No way PNG wins that match, even less with Samoa's current level. But having the 4 Oceanians teams qualified through the World Series is not out of the picture.