GB&NI at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics

[Occasional Hope]

MHS needs stronger guidance - a new coach? The current set up doesn't seem to be working for him.

[Occasional Hope]

Interesting. UKA needs to fix him up with someone then, asap.

[trickstat]

Further digging suggests he is coached by the American Lance Brauman.

[Occasional Hope]

That's who he moved to America to work with in 2017. But MHS hasn't run under 45 since 2018. I don't think he's the right coach for him.

[carterhatch]

MHS needs stronger guidance - a new coach? The current set up doesn't seem to be working for him.

talking of mens 400 in the UK ....

'Early results from Watford BMC meet held in warm and windy weather. @CamChalmers400 wins the 400m in 46.07 from @leethompss_ 46.27 and @joebrier99 46.32 in the highest quality M400m of the year in GB'

I ask ..what needs to happen for our 'top' 400 men to find, at least, that extra second?

[treadwater1]

Had a look at Chris Bennett’s situation in the hammer qualification tables. Currently ranked 37th. 25 have thrown the standard, so 7 berths left. 4 Russians above CB, 2 have ANA status, but Russian fed can only take 10 athletes, so that may bump him up a few places if he doesn’t throw the standard

The usual complications caused by the bonus points system persist. CB has 3 75m throws, others above him have fewer - Lomnicky - 2, Elgamel - None. I noticed Bennett had another 75m throw today, so this may feature when the rankings are updated. Not many chances left to improve his 5 best marks, however the bonus points on offer at the national championships are fairly good

In general the situation with invites isn’t as complicated for British athletes as it looked like it could be at one stage as the majority of our athletes have attained the qualifying standard. How many of them will be accepted by BA remains to be seen

Athletes currently in quota positions

Yousif (400)
King (110h). Fillery not far off
McAlister and Paul (400h)
Lincoln (SP) 39th
Duckworth (Dec)

Clarke (3000s)
Borthwick (HJ)
Ogbeta (TJ) 33rd only 3 berths left so she may need the standard
Caudery doesn’t have a ranking as she’s only recently returned to competition
Mills (Hep) still in with a chance

[Occasional Hope]

So out of those, if I were UKA I would accept an invitation for Borthwick, Ogbeta and Mills for sure. Maybe the four hurdlers, Lincoln and Clarke. Duckworth only if he shows better form at the trials.

Yousif over my dead body.

[LuckySpikes]

...
In general the situation with invites isn’t as complicated for British athletes as it looked like it could be at one stage as the majority of our athletes have attained the qualifying standard. How many of them will be accepted by BA remains to be seen

Athletes currently in quota positions

Yousif (400)
King (110h). Fillery not far off
McAlister and Paul (400h)
Lincoln (SP) 39th
Duckworth (Dec)

Clarke (3000s)
Borthwick (HJ)
Ogbeta (TJ) 33rd only 3 berths left so she may need the standard
Caudery doesn’t have a ranking as she’s only recently returned to competition
Mills (Hep) still in with a chance

At the moment, if BA are true to their word (when do they ever abandon their policy in favour of an athlete??), ... from that list, only David King would have his World Rankings invitation accepted since he's the only one on that list who has currently achieved BA's "B" standard in 2021.

[miles]

Holly Mills has it too (6180) exactly on the BA standard.

[LuckySpikes]

Yep, you're right miles

[treadwater1]

Given Lincoln’s performance today I think there’s a case to be made that the higher Olympic standards are encouraging athletes to aim higher and achieve more. If the standard in the shot put were only 20.60 Lincoln would have achieved it earlier and perhaps had less of an incentive to improve further. The same can be said about Taylor Campbell’s throwing and plenty of others. 21.28 is serious throwing and would get you into a lot of global finals

[MysteryBrick]

I was having a similar thought. I'm wary of the whole 'nobody jumped higher by lowering the bar' argument, as it can also just be used as a mechanism to remove opportunities from people, but this has led to some people to really push themselves. It does seem to work slightly better in field events where athletes can handle a lot of completions.

[Ladyloz]

Just looking at the latest update of the Road to Tokyo with just 1 week to go until the cut off. There are not that many GB athletes that would likely get an invite and I think even fewer which are likely to be accepted. My little summary below.

For the Women; the following are either in a World Rankings position or close to it:-

S'Chase = Rosie Clarke is in a World Rankings Quota spot but she's recently announced her retirement on Social Media
HJ = Emily Borthwick is in a World Rankings Quota spot. She doesn't have the BA standard so not sure if they would accept an invite or not. I'd personally like to see her go. She's in good form and would likely outperform the inconsistent Morgan Lake.
TJ = Naomi Ogbeta is 35th so 3 spots away from a World Rankings Quota place and 32 women have an auto Q. She probably needs a Qualifying mark this weekend, let's hope for a favourable wind in Manchester this weekend.
Shot = Amelia Strickler is in a World Rankings Quota spot but I doubt BA would accept any invite.
Hept = Holly Mills is 27th so may just miss out on an invite which is a shame as this is one you could definitely see being accepted.

For the Men; the following are either in a World Rankings position or close to it:-

400m = MHS & Rabah Yousif are both in a World Rankings Quota spot but unless either of them improve dramatically this weekend I can't see them being accepted.
110h = David King is in a World Rankings Quota spot and this is one that should be accepted as he has the 'BA standard' Cameron Fillery is also close to a World Rankings Quota spot but not sure if it would be accepted or not, possibly under the 'Future Potential' clause.
400h = Chris McAlister is in a World Rankings Quota spot and Jacob Paul just outside but as per their one lap counterparts on the flat can't see them being accepted without a big improvement.
S'Chase = Mark Pearce is just outside the quota spots but again would he be considered too old to be taken under the 'future potential' spot.
TJ = Nathan Douglas just outside a quota spot but no chance he'll go.
Decathlon = Tim Duckworth just outside a quota spot in 25th. Needs a good performance this weekend to secure his ranking and if so I think his invite would be accepted

So in all I think that perhaps only 2 or 3 will go via the World Rankings invite route.

[fchd]

If Hudson-Smith and/or Yousif are being sent anyway for one of the relays, what's the downside of accepting a spot in the individual 400?

[MysteryBrick]

I didn't realise Rosie Clarke had retired. I guess she saw the writing on the wall with a number of British women running 9:30 and her likely not making top 2 at UK Champs. A solid if unspectacular career, wish her the best with whatever she does from now on.

[Occasional Hope]

Rosie was still talking about aiming for Tokyo in February - https://www.inyourarea.co.uk/news/ca...olympic-dream/ but she only competed once this year, at the indoor trials. Maybe an injury spurred this decision? Maybe she just wants to start a post-athletics career, or start a family, combined with seeing younger British women surpass her.

I sincerely hope Yousif isn't being sent to run the relay.

[philipo]

The BA selection policy is clearly set out and rightly takes into account what the athlete achieved this year, and does not concern itself with the Entry standards of WA which allow what an athlete achieved in 2019 to be also relevant.
Some names mentioned as being near the entry standard or quota position i regard as largely irrelevant; if an athlete has to achieve at least the BA performance THIS year that makes a nonsense of some names here mentioned about the possibility of their being on the GB Team for Tokyo; its not a game to see how many athletes should be sent to Tokyo, so as to make some posters feel happy; what matters is ending people who have qualified appropriately by their performances this year, as far as i am concerned.

Yousif best effort this year is 46.35 not 45.01. MHS has not achieved the 45.01 BA standard but managed a one off 45.51 months ago.McAlister and Paul are far off the standard required so unless they manage the required 48.90 cannot see the point taking them to Tokyo

[Occasional Hope]

But they do have the option of ignoring their policy should they choose to do so.

[carterhatch]

I would suggesrt there is a further selection criteria - 'would it stand up to a legal challange' ... If they took (from the list above) a young up-and-coming athlete, albeit for all the right reasons, who doesn't have the BA standard, but omit one that does have the standard, (assuming both are inside the quota and invited) then I suspect the selectors will be hearing from the latter's legal team ...

[philipo]

I thought i saw in the selection policy something about an athlete who is not automatically selected in Phase 1 has to prove form and fitness. Litigation and appeals, the 21 st Century madness inherited from another crazy place, is hard to avoid, no matter how the Selection Policy is worded.

[larkim]

I've lost touch with this, so forgive me for the stupid question. If the number of "qualified by entry standard" athletes exceeds the number of places in an event (taking account of max 3 per country), what does WA say happens? Does it just become a question of "does the timetable need amending?" in case the number of heats / finals couldn't be made to work?

e.g. M10000m has 30 athletes with the standard with a target of 27. But Sam Atkin could still be selected by BA (in theory at least) even if Mo adds another QT performance tomorrow night (thus increasing the number of qualified athletes to 31). I'm sure a field of 31 would be OK in any event, but I'm just curious!

[SprintRelayFan]

That's helpful LL as I noticed there was a fair degree of chatter on twitter about Jess Judd and whether she would go.

[larkim]

So if the field size aspiration was exceeded significantly the only option WA have is to tinker with the timetable then? Or hope that BA choose not to send qualified athletes ;-)

[Occasional Hope]

More heats, I expect.

[fchd]

Is every NOC still going to be entitled to enter 1 man and 1 woman even if they have no qualified athletes, and would these universiality places be additional to the quotas per event or replace some of the invitation places?

[LuckySpikes]

Is every NOC still going to be entitled to enter 1 man and 1 woman even if they have no qualified athletes, and would these universiality places be additional to the quotas per event or replace some of the invitation places?

Looking at https://www.worldathletics.org/stats...oad-to/7132391 it seems that in some events universality places are extra to the quotas, whereas in others they are in included in the quota thereby reducing the World Rankings quota places. A bit confusing!

[MBChristie]

Is every NOC still going to be entitled to enter 1 man and 1 woman even if they have no qualified athletes, and would these universiality places be additional to the quotas per event or replace some of the invitation places?

To quote the rule book:

a.NOCs with no male or female qualified athlete or relay team will be allowed to enter their best ranked male athlete or their best ranked female athlete in one athletic event, with the exception ofthe Combined Events, 10,000m and 3000m Steeplechase.
b.This applies equally to unqualified female entries from an NOC with qualified males, and vice versa.
c.Acceptance of unqualified entries in Field Events and Road Events will be at the discretion of the IAAF Technical Delegates, based on the technical standard of the athlete and the numbers of qualified athletes in the respective event. In order to allow the IAAF Technical Delegates to assess the technical level of such athletes, a specific applicationformindicating the event in which the entry is requested and the proof of the technical level and international participation of the nominated athlete must be submitted to the IAAF. The IAAF shall subsequently confirm, in writing to NOCs, with a copy to the Tokyo 2020Sport Entries Department, the approval or otherwise of the entry of the specified athlete(s).
d.Theapplication forms of all unqualified athletes must be submitted by NOCs to the IAAF no later than22 June 2020.For Marathon and 50km Race Walk the application form for unqualified athletes must be submitted by NOCs to the IAAF no later than 24 May 2020.

[Grassmarket]

BBC coverage announced. Basically two live channels only. Eurosport will also have two live channels & everything else on ES Player. So I’m guessing BBC will have not 100% coverage of all morning sessions (intercut with other sports), and most of the evening sessions, intercut with British medal chances in other sports. However if you want dedicated coverage of eg the Woman’s Triple Jump, you will need ES Player.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/olympics/57597043

[Grassmarket]

Good news is that there will be very fewer annoying trackside interviews as everyone will be stuck in exotic Salford. But Jeanette will do her best to fill the gap!

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/sp...y-Salford.html