Mo Farah set to make World Half Marathon debut in Cardiff while five sailors are added to the Team GB squad for Rio Olympic Games. Check out the news from the last 24 hours here:
Double Olympic champion Mo Farah will make his World Half Marathon Championships in Cardiff later this month.
Farah has been named as part of a ten-strong team for the competition in Cardiff on Saturday March 26.
The 32-year-old holds the European record over the half-marathon distance at 59.32 minutes.
The race will form part of his preparations for this summer’s Olympic Games where he will be looking to defend his 5000 and 10,000m titles.
“I am looking forward to running on the British team at the IAAF / Cardiff University World Half Marathon Championships in Cardiff,” he told British Athletics.
“It will be my first time to compete at this Championship but I have been training hard and hope to perform well.
“I always enjoy racing in front of a home crowd and I’m sure they will give myself and the rest of the British team, fantastic support as they line the streets of the city.”
With 150 days to go to the Olympic Games in Rio 2016, a further five additional sailors have been added to the Team GB ranks.
Last September saw the announcement of a group of those initially selected.
And those numbers have now swelled with windsurfer Nick Dempsey set to become a five-time Olympian, while at the other end of the spectrum, Charlotte Dobson and Sophie Ainsworth will make their Olympic debuts in the 49erFX class.
2015 European champions Ben Saxton and Nicola Groves also follow suit in the Nacra 17 mixed multihull event. Read more about the sailors here.
However, from those selected in September, the BOA, in conjunction with the Royal Yachting Association, has made the difficult decision to deselect the 470 Men’s pairing of Luke Patience and Elliot Willis.
Due to Elliot’s ongoing treatment for bowel cancer, as a two person crew, they are unfortunately unable to follow the combined training programme required to maximise their chances of success in Rio. “Clearly Elliot’s situation is one neither of us foresaw when we embarked on our campaign together and I’m sad that we won’t be able to compete together in Rio this summer,” said Patience. “The thoughts of all the team continue to be with Elliot in his ongoing recovery. “For me, it’s absolutely the right thing to do to see through the work Elliot and I started out together. I’m aiming to requalify for Rio with Chris [Grube] and do the best job we can to bring home a medal.”
Ben Swift sprinted to sixth on the second stage of Paris-Nice as Team Sky leader Geraint Thomas defended his fifth-place standing in the overall classification.
Swift was helped into contention on the 213.5km stage from Contres by Thomas, before getting himself in the mix for the final sprint.
In the end it was Nacer Bouhanni who crossed the line first but the Cofidis rider was ruled to have changed his line in the sprint finish, blocking race leader Michael Matthews who was subsequently handed the stage. Thomas was eventually 17th, and lies 19 seconds off the lead.
"It was another good day for us overall,” said Team Sky sports director Nicolas Portal.
“Our main objective was to make sure G didn't lose any time, and he was on the right side of that four-second split at the end.
“I'm really pleased with that because we've been battling for every second over the last few days, and we looked after him all the way to the line.
"We told Swifty he could go for the sprint but it was always going to be hard for him against the purer sprinters.”
Great Britain’s Freyja Prentice admits she can’t wait to back to action while catching a sneak preview of Rio at this week’s World Cup 2 in Brazil.
Prentice is part of an eight-strong Great Britain squad who have travelled to Rio for the competition, which sees women’s qualification get underway on Thursday.
She last competed at last summer’s European Championships held at the Great Britain team’s University of Bath training base where she placed 13th after four months on the sidelines.
The 25-year-old also came second in the first ranking competition of the season before dislocating her shoulder while out on a run in Edinburgh over the Christmas period.
“I am very excited about competing this week”, she said.
“It is always good to get the first competition underway after such a long winter period.
“It will be good to see what kind of state I am in and how well I can transfer my efforts in training to a competition.
“I am also very excited to not just see the Olympic venues, but to compete in them as well.”
England’s representation in the main draw of the 106th YONEX All England Championships in Birmingham was boosted by success in the doubles qualifying.
Matthew Nottingham and Harley Towler secured a first round berth after winning their men’s doubles qualifying finals’ clash against Scotland’s Martin Campbell and Patrick Machugh at the Barclaycard Arena.
While Jenny Moore and Victoria Williams will play Danish fourth seeds Christinna Pedersen and Kamilla Rytter Juhl in the women’s doubles main draw after they beat Germany’s Jennifer Karnott and Franziska Volkmann 21-17, 21-18.
The main draw, featuring mixed doubles’ hopes Chris and Gabby Adcock, starts this morning.
Sportsbeat 2016