Road to Rio: 60 days to go

Just 60 days remain until this summer’s Olympic Games in Rio, but there is still plenty keeping our Team GB athletes busy.

Whether that is attempting to qualify or fine-tuning preparations for those already selected, no-one is resting on their laurels.

Each Monday we will look back at what our athletes have been getting up to during the last week and who to keep an eye on over the coming seven days.

Andy Murray became the first British male to make the final of the French Open for 79 years, but was beaten by Novak Djokovic on Sunday.

The Brit beat home favourite Richard Gasquet in the quarter-final before downing defending champion Stan Wawrinka in Friday’s semi-final.

Murray took the opening set against world number one Djokovic on Sunday but shocked last year’s finalist into action and the Serb went on to beat the Olympic champion 3-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-4.

Djokovic now holds all four of the Grand Slam titles but Murray will be looking to take the Wimbledon crown off him when the tournament gets underway later this month.

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Britain’s gymnastics success continued in Bern, Switzerland, with the women’s team taking home silver, a week after the men did the same.

The team of Becky and Ellie Downie, as well as Ruby Harrold, Gabby Jupp and Claudia Fragapane, qualified first for the final but were pipped to the gold by Russia.

The Downie sisters continued their success into the individual finals with 24-year-old Becky taking home gold on the uneven bars and 16-year-old Ellie winning silvers on the floor and vault.

Fragapane also took fourth on the floor and fifth on the vault while Jupp claimed seventh on the uneven bars.

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Mo Farah took the headlines at the Birmingham Diamond League on Sunday, breaking David Moorcroft’s 34-year-old British record in the 3,000m.

The double Olympic champion said he was inspired by the death of his hero, Muhammad Ali, and dug deep in the final lap to break the record by a tenth of a second.

On Thursday fellow Olympic champion Greg Rutherford extended his winning run to nine competitions with an 8.31m leap to win the Rome Diamond League.

He was unable to transfer that form to Birmingham though as 8.17m was not enough for him to qualify for the final rounds.

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Olivia Federici and Katie Clark will represent Team GB in synchronised swimming at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games after the pair were picked to compete in the duet event.

The duo secured a quota place for Team GB at the Olympic qualification event in Brazil, in March, and will be hoping to build on the experience of finishing sixth in the team event at London 2012.

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Team GB named the third player to their Rio 2016 table tennis team last week as the International Table Tennis Federation confirmed Britain’s full allocation for the team competition.

Worksop’s 21-year-old Sam Walker will join Paul Drinkhall and Liam Pitchford on the plane to his first Olympic Games.

Together the trio made history by winning a bronze medal in March’s World Team Championships, becoming the first team to stand on the podium in their debut competition after promotion from the tier below.

Walker will only compete in the team competition while Drinkhall and Pitchford will also play in the singles.

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Great Britain made their rugby sevens debut at the Moscow Grand Prix this weekend with one team finishing third in the cup and a second team winning the plate.

Head coach Simon Amor split his training squad into two sides, The Royals and The Lions, with both teams winning their respective groups on Saturday.

The sides shared contrasting fortunes in the cup quarter-finals on Sunday with The Lions beating Georgia before losing to Russia in the semi-final but recovering with a win over Germany in the third-place play-off.

The Royals lost their cup quarter-final to France before beating both Portugal and Georgia to win the plate.

Britain’s sailors will have a last chance to hone race technique and build confidence at the Weymouth and Portland World Cup regatta, the fourth leg of the six-event series, which takes place on the south coast this week.

Home sailors in action include Alison Young, fresh from her first World Championship title in the Laser Radial class, while fellow world leader Nick Thompson will be the headline act in the Laser.

Giles Scott also goes in the Finn with Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark competing in the women’s 470.

On Thursday the athletics world will descend on Oslo for the Diamond League meeting with a large British contingent competing in the Norwegian capital.

Shara Proctor, Tiffany Porter, Anyika Onuora, Jodie Williams, Charlie Grice, Jodie Williams and Laura Muir will all be on show at the historic Bislett Games.

Great Britain’s men complete their preparations for Rio 2016 at the Champions’ Trophy in London.

They play Australia in their opening game on Friday, June 10, at the Lee Valley Hockey Centre with Germany, India, Belgium and Korea also in action at the Queen Elizabeth II Olympic Park.

With gold and bronze at the London 2012 Olympic Games the Brownlee brothers are looking to continue their success in Rio.

With the Leeds leg of the World Series on Sunday, June 12, Alistair and Jonathan will be looking to put down a marker in their last event on home soil before the Olympic Games in August.

Sportsbeat 2016