Joanna Rowsell believes defeat for the women’s team pursuit in Paris could make triumph in Rio all the more memorable while Andy Murray gets off to a strong start in Rome. Here’s our review of the last 24 hours.
Joanna Rowsell believes missing out on team pursuit gold at the Track Cycling World Championships will make victory in Rio all the sweeter.
The women’s pursuit team have enjoyed a period of incredible success over recent years, with world titles aplenty and Olympic gold to boot.
But the quartet of Rowsell, Katie Archibald, Laura Trott and Elinor Barker came unstuck in Paris against a strong Australian team.
However, this time Rowsell says the team were well aware of the Aussie talent and she hopes they can combat it when the Olympics roll around next summer.
"This year it wasn't so much of a wake-up call. We all knew how good the Aussies were,” she said.
"I don't think any of us went into those World Championships complacent or thinking we were going to walk away with it at all.
"Hopefully it will make it even more of a better victory if we do win [in Rio]."
Andy Murray knows rest will be key after he kept his impressive winning streak on clay going with a straight sets victory over France’s Jeremy Chardy at the Italian Open.
Murray has now won ten-consecutive matches and followed his victory over Rafael Nadal in Madrid with a 6-4 6-3 triumph over Chardy in Rome.
But with the French Open creeping ever closer, Murray knows he will need to recuperate properly if he wants to keep the streak alive.
"My legs were a bit tired at the start but they started to feel better after a few games," said the Scot. "I played a good match.
"I don't know how my body will feel over the next days, but I'll try to spend as much time recovering and resting as possible."
While there was success for Murray there was no such luck for Heather Watson who bowed out in the second round after a 6-1 6-1 defeat at the hands of Carla Suarez Navarro.
Olympic champion Katherine Grainger will make her return to international competition after being named in the 50-strong team for European Rowing Championships in Pozan, Poland.
The 39-year-old returned to training last September after stepping away from the sport following her gold-medal double sculls success at London 2012 alongside Anna Watkins.
The return of Grainger is just one of number of reshuffles to the British line ups for the event in Poland from May 29-31.
“We anticipate an incredibly tough field this year but the aim is to win medals whilst not losing sight of the main goal which is Rio next year,” said Glover. Read more here.
Mark Cavendish managed to retain a slender lead in the race for the green jersey at this year's Tour of California after coming third on stage four.
The Brit was well positioned coming into the closing stages of the 173.1km stage before an attack by Daniel Oss going into the final kilometre made from a far from routine sprint finish.
Victory eventually went to Peter Sagan who closed the gap on Cavendish in the race for the points classification to a single point, while Toms Skujin leads the overall classification.
Charlie Maddock will aim to channel her disappointment of missing out on a medal at this year’s World Taekwondo Championships into success at the inaugural European Games.
The 19-year-old former kick boxing champion, who was making her World Championship debut in Chelyabinsk, looked on form as she racked up three wins.
However China’s double Olympic champion Wu Jingyu was too hot to handle in a one sided quarter-final as Maddock fell one victory short of a guaranteed medal in the -49kg category, while Britain's Andrew Deer also went out in the second round.
"I probably gave her too much respect and she’s such a top fighter that it was so hard to get in the fight once I went down,” said Maddock.
I’d like to have gone all the way but I hope this will give me something to build on for Baku in a few weeks time.”
Olympic champion Ed McKeever heads up a strong British team for the forthcoming canoe sprint World Cups in Duisburg and Copenhagen.
McKeever is one of seven Olympians from London included in the competitions on consecutive weekends from May 22, with K2 200m bronze medallists Liam Heath and Jon Schofield also included.
British Canoeing Sprint Head Coach, Scott Gardner said: “We are using World Cups 2 and 3 to hone our skills and gain experience and time on the start line to understand more about our athletes and make sure everyone is prepared for July’s trials and the World Championships in August.”
© Sportsbeat 2015