Road to Tokyo 2020 - Irish Olympic News

stereomatic

ROAD TO TOKYO 2020:

R

Time for a brand new thread to discuss Irish Olympic prospects for 2020 and follow the progress of our prospective Olympians. It's time to start looking forward to Tokyo 2020.

I've set up another Thread
Road to Tokyo 2020 - Irish Paralympic News
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=101096676#post101096676

Previous road to Rio link
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056783559

The Rings The Flame

I'm very confident that one of the main things we will see in Tokyo is the resurrection of our boxing team

Oldira

The Rings The Flame wrote: »

I'm very confident that one of the main things we will see in Tokyo is the resurrection of our boxing team

Well it will be a very new and inxperienced team. Only Brendan Irvine of the Rio team has committed to staying on for Tokyo. Joe Ward is the only other possibility as I think his dismal showing in Rio will put the brakes on any hope he had of turning professional. Joe is still only 22 so has plenty of time for a professional career.

Claire Lambe and Sinead Lynch also seem to be planning for Tokyo even tghough Lynch will be 43 by then. Fair play to her.

walshb

The Rings The Flame wrote: »

I'm very confident that one of the main things we will see in Tokyo is the resurrection of our boxing team

So what are you hoping for?

Dodge

I fell uncomfortable with this non-Dan sanctioned thread

Dan man

Dodge wrote: »

I fell uncomfortable with this non-Dan sanctioned thread

No worries at all, I've just fixed the spelling errors in the title and we are good to go now with this thread

I want to apologise to everyone for being so inactive of late, I'll do my best to be more active from here on. I hope you will all stick around to follow our athletes for another Olympic campaign. Looking forward to it, let's hope it's a great Olympiad for Irish athletes.

Skid X

Bertram Allen is one to watch on the Road to Tokyo. He won two competitions (and three cars) at an event in Stockholm at the weekend

http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/other-sports/irish-show-jumper-bertram-allen-wins-three-cars-within-24-hours-1.2884521



He is ranked no.17 in the World at the moment according to this page

https://data.fei.org/Ranking/Search.aspx?rankingCode=S_WR


A talented rider who will only get better. Shame he missed out on Rio but he is only 21 - there will be many Olympics to come for Bertram, hopefully.

Cosmo Kramer

Saskia jumps ship (sorry...:o)

http://www.the42.ie/saskia-tidey-tokyo-2020-3172883-Jan2017/

Strazdas

Cosmo Kramer wrote: »

Saskia jumps ship (sorry...:o)

http://www.the42.ie/saskia-tidey-tokyo-2020-3172883-Jan2017/

It's not ideal and it would normally not be a particularly good idea for any Irish born athlete to go this route but it seems she had zero chance of representing Ireland in Tokyo because of the lack of a sailing partner, so her decision is understandable.

Chivito550

Strazdas wrote: »

It's not ideal and it would normally not be a particularly good idea for any Irish born athlete to go this route but it seems she had zero chance of representing Ireland in Tokyo because of the lack of a sailing partner, so her decision is understandable.

Did Sinead Jennings try to jump ship to GB despite never being able to find a suitable partner good enough to enable her to qualify for Athens and Beijing? No, she stuck at it, eventually finding a good partner and she was rewarded with an excellent 6th place in Rio.

Saskia is no better than the Kenyan Turks. Nationality seems to be something that is disposable for many modern day sportspeople.

feargale

Is any tv channel showing any of the men's handball world championships taking place at the moment? I can't get it anywhere. Thanks,

flynng

Hi guys, just wondering what sport has the opportunity to qualify the first participants in Tokyo?I know we are literally just recovering from Rio but I'm curious as to how fast somebody can nail down a qualifying spot and what sport has the privilege? Most sports allow selection right up to almost a month or six weeks but what's the earliest an athlete can guarantee a spot?

Dan man

flynng wrote: »

Hi guys, just wondering what sport has the opportunity to qualify the first participants in Tokyo?I know we are literally just recovering from Rio but I'm curious as to how fast somebody can nail down a qualifying spot and what sport has the privilege? Most sports allow selection right up to almost a month or six weeks but what's the earliest an athlete can guarantee a spot?

Though there are no official qualification systems yet released by the sporting federations, if we go on previous years then the first direct qualifiers generally come in Shooting and at the World Equestrian Games in 2018. However, the qualification for football usually is the first one to kick-off with the European qualifiers beginning this year. The qualification period in Judo will likely begin early 2018 also.

The_Kew_Tour

http://www.rte.ie/sport/other-sport/2017/0330/863959-canoeist-jenny-egan-is-keeping-the-dream-alive/

Good piece on Jenny Egan hoping to make it in 3 years

Skid X

Chloe and Sam Magee into the Semi Finals of the European Championships Mixed Doubles Badminton


https://twitter.com/chloenmagee/status/858043995238354946

http://www.the42.ie/chloe-sam-magee-european-championships-2-3365021-Apr2017/


Great achievement.

Testosterscone

Irish Flying high

https://twitter.com/Natalyacoyle/status/869182837815218182

Cosmo Kramer

A shame to see that Sycerika McMahon has retired from competitive swimming. Seemed destined for great things as a junior but she didn't kick on after she moved to Texas unfortunately. Best of luck to her anyway.

Skid X

Disappointing not to see the Mixed Modern Pentathlon added to the Tokyo schedule this week, the event at which Natalya Coyle and Arthur Lanigan-O'Keefe have won a World Cup event.

https://www.rte.ie/sport/olympics/2017/0609/881527-mixed-gender-relays-added-to-tokyo-programme/

Skid X

Joe Ward says he is aiming for Tokyo

Triple European boxing gold medallist Joe Ward has turned his back on a move to the professional ranks and will captain the Irish team at next month’s World boxing championships in Hamburg.
He has also revealed that he will stay with the Irish boxing team for the next Olympics in 2020.

http://www.independent.ie/sport/other-sports/boxing/joe-ward-turns-his-back-on-move-to-pro-boxing-and-commits-to-irish-team-for-2020-olympics-35923164.html

Dan man

One of our big Tokyo 2020 prospects needs our help to keep the dream alive. Jonty has set up a crowd-funding campaign to help keep him with the horse that brought him 9th place at the Rio 2016 Olympics. If you are wanting to know a bit more about how to help out, see here....

https://www.jontyandart.com/

Strazdas

I guess we could see this girl in Tokyo in three years' time - she won gold in the 100m at the European under-20 Championships today. A huge step up from this level to the Olympics of course but fair play to her anyway.

https://twitter.com/EuroAthletics/status/888421828363997184

highbury1913

The swimming worlds start tomorrow.

Conor Ferguson
Brendan Hyland
Nicholas Quinn
Shane Ryan
Jordan Sloan
Mona McSharry

Particularly looking forward to seeing how Mona McSharry gets on in the 100m breaststroke after her success in the recent European Junior Championships.

Even outside of the Irish interest, I think this will be a great week of action ahead. Will Peaty break the world record again? The rivalries with Mack Horton/Sun Yang and Lilly King/Yulia Efimova. Then Ledecky going for 6 golds.

Ledecky will race every day for seven straight days, a total of 6,300 meters if all goes according to plan. That's nearly 4 miles in total, encompassing freestyle races that range from 200 meters (essentially, a sprint) to 1,500 (the grueling metric mile).

To add a little perspective, Michael Phelps put in 3,300 meters — roughly half the distance of Ledecky's program — on his way to a record eight gold medals at the Beijing Olympics. No one is aware of a pool swimmer ever covering so much distance within the confines of a single major meet.

For anyone else, it would seem ludicrous to even consider such a daunting plan.

But Ledecky did 6,200 meters at the last world championships, two years ago in Kazan, Russia, where she won five gold medals. She's added the 4x100 free relay to her repertoire since then.

At the Rio Olympics last summer, Ledecky captured four gold medals and a silver. That must have seemed like a breeze, a mere 3,300 meters for the week since the 1,500 wasn't part of the women's program.

http://uk.businessinsider.com/ap-ledecky-prepares-for-another-big-week-at-world-championships-2017-7?r=US&IR=T

Without Phelps and Lochte, there is a still a lot to look forward to.

Eurosport and BBC both showing this.

walshb

Some great swims yesterday. Love these championships

Sjostrom....wtf....some relay (FIRST) leg on the 4x100 obliterating Cate Campbell's WR!

Sun Yang took that 400 by the scruff....almost getting the WR.....

I like Steve Parry, I think it is. Very enthusiastic commentator. Works well with Andy Jameson, although Moorehouse's familiar voice missed.

Anyone catch the 10 m platform dive final? Daley.....unreal that he is still at the top...Brilliant diving. He scored higher than the Rio gold medal win.

walshb

Peaty and Sjostrom dominated their finals today..

Ireland's Shane Ryan finished 6th in his 100 back semi. Failed to make final..swan very fast in finishing only 1/10 outside his Irish record..

Super final for tomorrow night.

highbury1913

walshb wrote: »

Peaty and Sjostrom dominated their finals today..

Ireland's Shane Ryan finished 6th in his 100 back semi. Failed to make final..swan very fast in finishing only 1/10 outside his Irish record..

Super final for tomorrow night.

Mona McSharry 8th in her heat with 10 in it. Over a second outside her national record.

Jordan Sloan finished last in his heat.

If you think the King/Efimova/Meilutyte rivallry was big in Rio last summer. I think it will be a even bigger race tomorrow. Efimova was .01 second outside Meilutyte's world record and after winning starting wag her finger in obvious reference to what King did last summer. For the sake of swimming, I hope King wins tomorrow.

On an Irish note, the commentators on Eurosport said Meilutyte has lost her coach to Irish swimming who is now in charge of the national programme here.

highbury1913

walshb wrote: »

Some great swims yesterday. Love these championships

Sjostrom....wtf....some relay (FIRST) leg on the 4x100 obliterating Cate Campbell's WR!

Sun Yang took that 400 by the scruff....almost getting the WR.....

I like Steve Parry, I think it is. Very enthusiastic commentator. Works well with Andy Jameson, although Moorehouse's familiar voice missed.

Anyone catch the 10 m platform dive final? Daley.....unreal that he is still at the top...Brilliant diving. He scored higher than the Rio gold medal win.

Loving it as well. It's a great week of sport.

I don't think Sjostrom is down for the 200m freestyle which is a pity. Her against Ledecky would be epic. It was a close race in Rio.

walshb

highbury1913 wrote: »

Mona McSharry 8th in her heat with 10 in it. Over a second outside her national record.

Jordan Sloan finished last in his heat.

If you think the King/Efimova/Meilutyte rivallry was big in Rio last summer. I think it will be a even bigger race tomorrow. Efimova was .01 second outside Meilutyte's world record and after winning starting wag her finger in obvious reference to what King did last summer. For the sake of swimming, I hope King wins tomorrow.

On an Irish note, the commentators on Eurosport said Meilutyte has lost her coach to Irish swimming who is now in charge of the national programme here.

I think the 100 BS record will go tomorrow. Efimova to take it....Could be a cracking race...

The British lads in the 200 free are on fire. Duncan Scott who qualified fastest? Effortless stroke he has...

Ben Proud winning the 50 fly was brilliant. Such a down to earth likable lad.

highbury1913

walshb wrote: »

I think the 100 BS record will go tomorrow. Efimova to take it....Could be a cracking race...

The British lads in the 200 free are on fire. Duncan Scott who qualified fastest? Effortless stroke he has...

Ben Proud winning the 50 fly was brilliant. Such a down to earth likable lad.

Definitely I would say. Likewise, I can't wait for it.

Watching the heats to the mens 50m breaststroke, Peaty breaks the WR again. And in the previous heats there was me thinking Peaty won't have it all his way after watching van der Burgh and Cordes looking so strong. Peaty's main aim he said is to eventually go under 57 secs for the 100m. Now he should have a new one, sub 26 for the 50m. I wouldn't put it past him.

Brendan Hyland just now last in his 200m butterfly heat. Well outside his Irish record.

walshb

highbury1913 wrote: »

Definitely I would say. Likewise, I can't wait for it.

Watching the heats to the mens 50m breaststroke, Peaty breaks the WR again. And in the previous heats there was me thinking Peaty won't have it all his way after watching van der Burgh and Cordes looking so strong. Peaty's main aim he said is to eventually go under 57 secs for the 100m. Now he should have a new one, sub 26 for the 50m. I wouldn't put it past him.

Brendan Hyland just now last in his 200m butterfly heat. Well outside his Irish record.

I can't think of a more dominant swimmer in one single discipline tha Peaty in the BS. Maybe Phelps in the butterfly, but not as far ahead as his rivals, plus the 200 is longer. Peaty only has 100 metres to show his dominance...

Peaty almost got the 50 BS record on the first 50 of his 100 final yesterday...

Now he gets it on the 50 BS....

walshb

Peaty went sub 26 in the semis...

Two British lads failed to medal in 200 free...

Still catching up..

walshb

Great evening of finals today. Anyone watch?

Chad Le Clos takes a great 200 fly from start to finish to beat local favourite, Laszlo Cseh.

Bit of a shock for Ledecky in the 200 (her weakest distance), being hauled in and beaten by Pelegrini...Ledecky was trying to win the double quadruple with back to back WC golds in 200/400/800 and 1500..

Peaty as expected a clear winner in the 50 BS..another sub 26..double double in the WCs..

Some super action..

highbury1913

The Irish were 9th out of 10 in the 4 X 100m medley relay. A bit of controversy about the changeover with Haas and whether he went too early. Looks like they are still in going by the results too far. I hope so because we would be deprived of a great battle with Great Britain. It's also a chance for Dressel to get a 7th gold.

Tonight's final evening session should be a great one to end it. Hosszu in the 400 IM to get another gold in the front of the home crowd, King against Efimova once again in the 50m BS with both coming off quick times in their semis. I wouldn't rule out a possible WR here. And then the 1500m for men also.

I'd never thought I would say this before this championship but Ledecky could have serious competition by the next Olympics in Li Bingjie. I did a bit of research on this. Ledecky was 15 for her 2012 Olympic gold in a then American Record of 8:14.63. Contrast this now with Li Bingjie at 15 coming 2nd in 8:15.46 which is an Asian record. Then take Li Bingjie's bronze in the 400m in a time of 4:03.25. Ledecky in the US trials in 2012 came 3rd in the 400m in 4:05.00 which was the fastest time ever by a 15 year old American.

Definitely one to watch and will be interesting to see how she progresses in the lead up to the Olympics.

walshb

Super final day in Budapest. As expected the U.S. dominated the medley relays..

Star of the championships for me was Caleb Dressel.

He came so close to one of swimming's toughest records, Phelp's 100 fly record from Rome 2009..He will break it soon..

Sjostrom a close second, with two WRs in the freestyle events..

Oh, and a great end to Camille Lacourt's career. His 3rd straight WC gold on 50 back..

flynng

What week it has been for Irish sport. Team gold and individual bronze for Cian O' Connor(he has a great record in big Championships) at the European Equestrian Games in Sweden. A truly fantastic team result as Bertran Allen forced to retire after second Round forcing the remaining three members scores to automatically count.Flawless jumping to be honest!

Gold too for Shane Ryan and Mona McSharry at the Universiade Games in South Korea in their respective swimming events.

11th place finish in the Men's Modern Pentathlon World Championships in Cairo and as I write Nathalya Coyle lying second in the Women's.

Nicholas Roche in third place in the General Classification for the Vuelta in Spain too at the moment.

A great week overall for Olympic related sports.

Dodge

Coyle finished 14th

Shane Ryan's result was good for him but won't have any effect on Rio

Conor Ferguson and Mona McSharry are the real deal though. For reference her time would have been top 10 in the last Olympic and World Championship semi finals. Would have been 6th in the olympic final (different circumstances etc)

She'll be 20 in Tokyo and if she continues to progress could be a real contender

flynng

The Universiade Games are in Taipei and not South Korea as previously mentioned. Also should have mentioned the Men's and Women's Hockey teams maintaining Division 1A status in the European Championships. The Men were particularly misfortunate not to make the Semi-Finals. It was really important that both teams maintained their status in the top Division. Well done to both squads!

Oldira

Dodge wrote: »

Coyle finished 14th

Shane Ryan's result was good for him but won't have any effect on Rio

Conor Ferguson and Mona McSharry are the real deal though. For reference her time would have been top 10 in the last Olympic and World Championship semi finals. Would have been 6th in the olympic final (different circumstances etc)

She'll be 20 in Tokyo and if she continues to progress could be a real contender

Coyle was second going into the last (combined) event so I would say she is disappointed with how she finished. Lanigan O'Keefe had a disasterous fencing competition winning only 11 of his 33 bouts. If he had won around 20 he would have got Gold. Both of these are definitely live contenders for Tokyo.

Chivito550

Dodge wrote: »

Coyle finished 14th

Shane Ryan's result was good for him but won't have any effect on Rio

Conor Ferguson and Mona McSharry are the real deal though. For reference her time would have been top 10 in the last Olympic and World Championship semi finals. Would have been 6th in the olympic final (different circumstances etc)

She'll be 20 in Tokyo and if she continues to progress could be a real contender

We've been here before with Grainne Murphy and Ciara Mageean. Outstanding junior success often doesn't lead to top level senior success. In fact very few make that transition from world class junior to world class senior. Many develop at different stages too, so many who weren't great as juniors can leapfrop those who were.

Again in athletics, we are seeing people pinning their hopes on a bunch of very talented juniors (after a summer of great success for our female sprinters among others), creating ridiculous unnecessary pressure to perform as soon as they hit the senior ranks. It's a problem in Irish sport. We have such little success, that we get overexcited about success at junior level and start bigging up the talent.

No point in blowing up this girl and thinking she'll be a contender in Tokyo. If she is come 2020, then brilliant. But she's just as likely to be injured, burnt out, underperforming, didn't develop further after 17, as she is to be in medal contention. In fact, if history is anything to go by, the former scenarios are far more likely.

Dodge

Except none of those won world junior titles. I know Mageean won silver but there is a track record of swimming junior champions moving on. It is a better indicator than the European level success of McMahon and Murphy etc

And of course loads can happen. If any Irish swimmer is to medal at senior level it'll be almost a miracle

catchup

The lead man in the French crew that beat the O’Donovan brothers in the Rio Olympic Rowing Regatta has just announced his retirement.
Makes the boys from Skib most people’s favorites heading towards Tokyo.

Dodge

catchup wrote: »

The lead man in the French crew that beat the O’Donovan brothers in the Rio Olympic Rowing Regatta has just announced his retirement.
Makes the boys from Skib most people’s favorites heading towards Tokyo.

I wouldn’t say they’re favourites but it’s a big help. Azou is only 28 so I wouldn’t rule out a comeback

catchup

Following the recent World Rowing Championship Regatta Ireland has 3 world champions. Paul O’Donovan in the Lightweight Single Sculls, and Mark O’Donivan and Shane O’Driscoll in the Lightweight Pair. All from Skibbereen. Sanita Puspure, our Openweight Single Sculler, finished 4th in the A Final.

Rowing is shaping up to be a top Irish sport in Tokyo.

catchup

Dodge wrote: »

I wouldn’t say they’re favourites but it’s a big help. Azou is only 28 so I wouldn’t rule out a comeback

I said most people’s favoritesðŸ‘. The field is tightening up and they couldn’t compete at the Worlds due to Gary O’Donovan missing weeks of training in the run up to the Worlds so it’s difficult to know how they would have finished. But based on performance through the year they should have been in the medals.

Chivito550

catchup wrote: »

Following the recent World Rowing Championship Regatta Ireland has 3 world champions. Paul O’Donovan in the Lightweight Single Sculls, and Mark O’Donivan and Shane O’Driscoll in the Lightweight Pair. All from Skibbereen. Sanita Puspure, our Openweight Single Sculler, finished 4th in the A Final.

Rowing is shaping up to be a top Irish sport in Tokyo.

None of those were in Olympic events though. Had Gary been fit they would have won a medal in the LM2X, so we are unlucky there. I think a medal of any colour in an Olympic discipline at Worlds tops a gold in non Olympic categories, particularly in lightweight sweep rowing, which now has no Olympic events.

In fact after Tokyo, there's a real worry that lightweight will be off the Olympic programme completely, and then we'll be in trouble, as we don't tend to produce many good heavyweights.

As for Tokyo, there's only 2 lightweight events, the LM2X and LW2X, so for Mark and Shane to make Tokyo, they'll have to change to sculling and try de-seat Gary and Paul, or else put on about 10-15kg and go heavyweight. The loss of the LM4- is a killer for their chances of getting to Tokyo.

catchup

Chivito550 wrote: »

None of those were in Olympic events though. Had Gary been fit they would have won a medal in the LM2X, so we are unlucky there. I think a medal of any colour in an Olympic discipline at Worlds tops a gold in non Olympic categories, particularly in lightweight sweep rowing, which now has no Olympic events.

In fact after Tokyo, there's a real worry that lightweight will be off the Olympic programme completely, and then we'll be in trouble, as we don't tend to produce many good heavyweights.

As for Tokyo, there's only 2 lightweight events, the LM2X and LW2X, so for Mark and Shane to make Tokyo, they'll have to change to sculling and try de-seat Gary and Paul, or else put on about 10-15kg and go heavyweight. The loss of the LM4- is a killer for their chances of getting to Tokyo.

Yep. You’re right about the events being non Olympic. It was bad luck on Gary being out of action because they would have won a medal in the LM2x which is an Olympic event. I’d put money that Lightweight rowing will be gone after Tokyo. But Rowing Ireland know that and the HP people are working on developing a pathway for openweight rowers, particularly women where we will have a better chance of finding good candidates.

Chivito550

catchup wrote: »

Yep. You’re right about the events being non Olympic. It was bad luck on Gary being out of action because they would have won a medal in the LM2x which is an Olympic event. I’d put money that Lightweight rowing will be gone after Tokyo. But Rowing Ireland know that and the HP people are working on developing a pathway for openweight rowers, particularly women where we will have a better chance of finding good candidates.

What will happen to Gary and Paul post Tokyo though, if lightweight does indeed get scrapped?

Skid X

Story here that Joe Ward's nemesis Julio Cesar La Cruz (who has beaten him three times in the World Championships) might be moving up in weight, which might make life slightly easier for Ward


http://www.irish-boxing.com/joe-ward-receives-cuban-boost/

Dan man

Rio 2016 Olympian Benjamin Fletcher celebrated his first tournament as an Irish judoka by claiming gold at the IJF World Grand Prix in Tunis last weekend.
The victory was a first-ever World Tour gold medal won by an Irish judoka.
Benjamin, who is 25 years old, represented Great Britain at the Rio 2016 Olympics and won a bronze medal at the Junior World Championships in 2011.
On his way to gold in Tunis he defeated the African champion in the semi finals before dispatching the 2014 junior world bronze medalist from Russia in the final.
Here's hoping Benjamin can make it to Tokyo 2020!

Chivito550

Annalise Murphy is changing to the 49er class for Tokyo. There's one of our medal chances gone now.

Seems like she wants a new challenge, rather than the pressure of trying to match or better her Rio performance in the Laser Radial.

Dodge

Chivito550 wrote: »

Annalise Murphy is changing to the 49er class for Tokyo. There's one of our medal chances gone now.

Seems like she wants a new challenge, rather than the pressure of trying to match or better her Rio performance in the Laser Radial.

As long as she beats Saskia Tidey...

Oldira

First actual qualification places were awarded this week at the World Sailing Championships. This is te main qualification event for Tokyo and sadly no Irish boat qualified and in fact none came near qualifying. Will take a big effort and some luck to qualify any boat this cycle. I know Annalise Murphy did not take part as she and Katie Tingle are training and will go all out in 2019 but it still is a disappointment that our mens Laser and 49er finished so far down the field.