Some big things this weekend

Triathlon - The second World Series races of the year from Gold Coast, Australia, early hours of Saturday morning live on BBC Red Button. It's the final selection race for Team GB with one place each available for men and women. For the women, it is likely to be Helen Jenkins v Jody Stimpson for the final place

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/wales/35972150

For the men, Gordon Benson v Tom Bishop. The Brownlee Brothers will be in action.

https://www.teamgb.com/news/brownlee...ace-down-under

Overall fields will be pretty much at full strength.

http://wts.triathlon.org/news/articl..._to_gold_coast
http://wts.triathlon.org/news/articl...ens_gold_coast

Boxing - The European Olympic Qualifiers get started today in Samsun, Turkey. British team is here. It's the first of four qualifying events. Team GB are sending 10 men and three women. In each weight category, 3 places are available for the men (don't know how they pick between beaten semi-finalists) and 2 for the women.

http://www.gbboxing.org.uk/news/gb-b...turkey-788.php

Weightlifting

European Championships in Norway. British Team news here. Qualifying will be tough. All live on Eurosport

http://britishweightlifting.org/brit...championships/

British Rowing Team named for the European Championships next month....

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rowing/35977061

http://www.britishrowing.org/2016/04...eam-selection/

...and a smaller team for the opening World Cup in Varese, Italy next week

http://www.britishrowing.org/2016/04...ese-world-cup/

More stuff

BMX Supercross World Cup from Manchester. Again, part of a chase for Olympic places which are based on overall national rankings at the end of May. The men's team is currently ranked 5th in the World, if they get to fourth we get 3 men's places. Looking like one women's place. Also places for individual ranking. Event is live on BBC sport website.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/35959905

Coming thick and fast today. The GB Team for the European Judo Championships in Kazan 21-24 April is announced.

https://www.teamgb.com/news/british-...uropean-champs

Olympics Qualification is based on World Rankings at the end of May, so this is a big chance to earn points.

And it's the British Gymnastics Championships in Liverpool this weekend.

https://www.british-gymnastics.org/n...omens-artistic

Live coverage on BBC2 on Sunday afternoon.

Good to see both the Brownlees racing this weekend. No Javier Gomez, he is usually a prolific racer so a little surprised to see him miss the first 2 WTS races.

Gwen Jorgensen races (and probably) wins again. Jodie Stimpson v Helen Jenkins for the final British spot for Rio, personally I expect Josie to come out on top quite comfortably. No Vicky Holland or Non Stanford though.

As well as the BBC coverage on Sunday afternoon, the British Gymnastics site will be streaming the coverage all weekend. Today is the Junior AA competitions with places in the European Junior teams a big incentive for those taking part.

Tomorrow sees the Senior All Around Competitions. Arena is sold out tomorrow which is good going considering there is a certain horse race taking part elsewhere in Liverpool. The final group which starts at 6PM should include all the big names. Hard to look past Max for the Mens All Around, the Womens should be a great fight between Fragapane, Amy Tinkler & Ellie Downie. The All Around comps also act as qualifying for the Apparatus finals on Sunday so you'll also see the likes of Becky Downie & Louis Smith competing even though they won't be doing all pieces

Should think that the women at the gymnastics will be better dressed.

Well that was a turn up for the books. Helen Jenkins overturned the form book to not only comfortably beat Jodie Simpson in the race for Olympic selection but to beat the supposedly unbeatable Gwen Jorgensen.

Have to feel for Jodie who has consistently been better than Helen in the last 4 years but Helen will surely get the nod & deservedly so. Jodie had a poor swim and was never in it.

Yep, great race for Helen, first time Jorgensen has been beaten in two years. OK, she got a big advantage in the cycling, but even in the run she held her ground for a long way. Drama in the men's, Jonathan Brownlee dehydrated in the final kilo, collapsed over the line. Alistair finished in 36th in his first race after a long injury break. In the race for the third British place Tom Bishop probably did himself a favour by being the strongest swim/cycler.

https://www.teamgb.com/news/jenkins-...ns-with-bronze

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/triathlon/35988566

Caught up with the men's race earlier.. Mario Mola is in great form this year. Hope Jonny is OK & that Alistair is simply race rusty combined with going a little too hard on the bike.

I generally take scores at national gymnastics championships with a pinch of salt as the scores in majors tend to be lower. That said...

Claudia Fragapane won the women's all-around title with 58.100!

Max Whitlock won the men's all-around title with 92.800!! (Might actually be a tenth lower, but still...!)

Great win for Helen. Beating Gwen and halting her streak in the process. Although in fairness to Jorgensen triathlon is a little different this year with many of the top athletes aiming solely for the Olympics. Thus, Gwen is in a very intense training phase aiming for a taper then peak in Rio whereas Helen needed to be in peak form to secure qualification. In non Olympic years triathletes aim to peak at various events over the course of several months. I still think Gwen is a comfortable favourite in August and that if she is beaten Non is the mostly likely woman to do it. Gwen won on the same Gold Coast course last year in dominating fashion where she rode at or near the front on the bike. Today, even though she had the fastest run split Gwen looked unusually laboured on her best leg having to grind just to edge the kiwi girl. However Helen's performance does show that if Gwen is to be beaten the bike leg will be the key. Unfortunately, unlike Non and Vicky she didn't have the luxury of organising her training and preparation solely around Rio. It's clear that 4 out of the top 10 female triathletes in the world are British and it's a shame one of them won't be there. As for the men's race, I wouldn't make too much of the form book in April. Even in non Olympic years it doesn't always hold. I'm not overly concerned about Alistair yet. Non came back from much worse last year and was in immaculate form.

Here's the full breakdown of scores from Liverpool:

Men / Women / BG press release

Whitlock's all-around (confirmed as 92.700) included 16.250 on the horse (Louis Smith 15.800) and 16.050 on the floor - yup, 16+ on two pieces of apparatus.

On rings, Courtney Tulloch pulled off a blinder with 16.050!!

I agree after Gwen Jorgensen Non Stanford is probably the best runner and may be the one to upset Jorgensen in Rio. With regards to Alistair I'm not going to panic just yet, if he isn't back to his best form come Leeds maybe then is the time to worry.

One should also bear in mind generally that the Olympic Triathlon does throw up surprise winners more often than not with the form book being torn up. The men's event in London was an exception.

I think there may be a slight inflation with scores but really just a tenth or 2 here & there so still some very impressive scores.

In terms of Olympic selection I think Tunney is probably in the box seat at the moment for the 5th team spot - the Downies, Tinkler & Fragapane are all certs to make it in my eyes. Tulloch is giving the selectors another headache. He is showing medal potential on rings & also posted some decent scores elsewhere. Have always felt that Louis Smith is not a cert for Olympic selection & Tulloch could make that decision even harder.

What is the situation with that guy who broke his leg - Nile Wilson wasn't it?

:
Brink Bevan not Nile. Brinn is back competing. Not competing AA though. He did 4 pieces yesterday, guess it's too soon after his injury to be doing floor & vault

Not quite the same level across the board today as the AA comps last night at the Gymnastics, with a number of falls & errors. Max & Louis both went over 16 with the latter not very happy about being beaten on twitter. Lovely to see Gabby Jupp winning gold on bars after all her injuries & another great beam from Becky Downie.

Fingers crossed too that Kristian Thomas's ankle injury isn't serious

Best possible results for the men - Liam Phillips wins the overall, Kyle Evans second!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/36010457

BBC Red Button coverage of the final stages of the boxing on Friday and Saturday.

Quite right too. Max touched the horse twice and had several form breaks, there is no way he would be getting an 8.9 E score in front of any other panel of judges. Unfortunately, with the Olympic spots available reduced to 5, Louis really needed to win to stay in contention for the team.

Was a nice surprise to see Helen win against Gwen. Regardless of who is where on current form it gives the brits hope they can beat Gwen by riding hard on a technical course to create a gap. Not seen the actual Rio course but heard it's hilly, so chance for a breakaway by those that usually need over 1 minute on Gwen going into the run.

While it looks likely Helen will be given the 3rd spot they're all still competing over the next few months, so Jodie should be prepared form wise to be a late replacement if one of the chosen 3 gets an injury or illness.

Hope the Brownlees can get back to top form otherwise it's looking ominous for them with Mola and Gomez looking good for a long time now, so a Spain 1-2 wouldn't be a big surprise.

Incidentally, more gymnastics on TV this coming weekend - BT Sport has live coverage of the NCAA Champs from Fort Worth in the States starting on Friday.

http://www.ncaa.com/championships/gymnastics-women/nc

As usual, it's all organised in college teams, so probably quite a wide variation of standards, but involves more than just Americans.

European Olympic Qualifiers in Table Tennis singlesare in Halmstad, Sweden this week. The whole tournament is hugely complicated, see explanation here.

http://www.ncaa.com/championships/gymnastics-women/nc

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Table_...n#Men.27s_team