Two British athletes will be in Friday’s Modern Pentathlon World Championships Final while Andy Murray scraped through in Paris again and we look ahead to the European Gymnastics Championships. Here’s our look back at the last 24 hours in Olympic sport:
Great Britain will have two representatives in Friday’s Modern Pentathlon World Championships Final after both Samantha Murray and Kate French qualified.
Pentathlon GB’s Murray and French both booked their place in the Moscow showpiece during Wednesday’s semi-finals, but Freyja Prentice and Jo Muir failed to progress.
Friday’s final is the last chance to qualify for the Olympic Games in Rio later this summer, meaning Prentice faces an anxious wait with Friday’s finalists having the opportunity to surpass her in the standings.
Former world champion Murray and French have already recorded the Olympic qualifying standard.
Murray and 2016 World Cup Final qualifier Prentice were placed together in Group A of the semi-finals.
Murray secured her qualification with a fifth-place finish but Prentice missed out after coming 17th, with only the top 12 progressing.
French finished second in Group B to breeze into Friday’s final but Muir could only come 14th in Group C, which meant she dropped out of contention.
Pentathlon GB performance director Jan Bartu was pleased with Murray and French’s performances, and was also complementary of Muir on her senior World Chamionships debut.
“We put on a good show today. They made a clear passage through the semi-finals and really competed well. They can still improve for the final but it was a good day,” he said.
“It was a very testing competition. Muir did well from the outset, swam a personal best and put in a solid fencing performance to pick up 11 victories, which is good for her.
“Unfortunately she found herself in the middle of a very competitive combined event and just missed out on a place in the final.”
Britain will not be competing in the team event later this week because they were unable to secure a third athlete’s qualification for the final.
Andy Murray’s Grand Slam experience shone through as he fought back from the brink of elimination to progress to the third round of the French Open on Wednesday with a five-set win over Mathias Bourgue.
The British No.1 lost eight consecutive games to the French wildcard to drop the second and third sets, before finding his feet once again to comfortably take the fourth.
Murray, 29, took just over three-and-a-half hours to put the match to bed, eventually edging out world number 169 Bourgue, appearing in his first major, 6-2, 2-6, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3.
The Scot was full of praise for his 22-year-old opponent but insisted his determination did not waver despite the difficulties he faced.
“He was excellent,” said Murray. “He was the one dictating a lot of the points and making me run a lot, fighting right until the end.”
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Heather Watson suffered defeat at the hands of Svetlana Kuznetsova to see her French Open campaign end on the fourth day of competition.
Watson, who qualified for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games by beating Nicole Gibbs in the first round, lost 6-1 6-3 to the 13th-seeded Russian – having her serve broken four times in the process – and admits it just wasn’t her day.
“She was just better than me today,” she said. “I tried to stick with her but a few points made the difference.”
Elsewhere, Kyle Edmund lost in straight sets to American 15th seed John Isner – going down 6-2, 6-2, 6-2.
Joe Prunty admits he is relishing the opportunity to lead out the Great Britain basketball team on British soil when the FIBA EuroBasket2017 qualifiers come to London this year.
All three qualifiers will take place at the Copper Box Arena in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in September as the GB team look to secure their place at next year's tournament in Romania, Finland, Israel and Turkey.
They will face FYR Macedonia on September 3, before taking on Luxembourg and Hungary on September 7 and 10 respectively.
And for head coach Prunty, this is one opportunity his team are determined not to let slip through their fingers.
"I am looking forward to assembling the GB squad for these FIBA EuroBasket 2017 qualifiers," said Prunty.
"This is another important campaign for British Basketball and I have already had several good conversations with players about the programme and their availability for the summer.
"We have a tremendous opportunity in front of us and are looking forward to the challenge."
Max Whitlock may have withdrawn from this week’s artistic gymnastics European Championships in Switzerland but with the road to Rio heating up, Dan Purvis says Team GB will still be looking to lay down a marker to the rest of the world.
Pommel horse World Champion Whitlock recently contracted a virus and with his Olympic Games prospects in mind he won’t make the trip to Switzerland.
Courtney Tulloch will replace him on the men’s side – joining Nile Wilson, Kristian Thomas, Louis Smith and Purvis – as Great Britain attempt to conquer Europe in the last major championships before Rio 2016, with the senior men’s qualification beginning on Thursday.
Winning team gold, as they did back in 2012, is a distinct possibility although the likes of Russia will certainly provide stiff competition.
Purvis makes no bones about the fact that the squad are looking to leave with the title and is adamant they are in perfect shape to do just that – even if the ultimate aim this season is the Olympic Games.
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He may be about to become a double Olympian and faces all the nutritional challenges that come with being a world-class table tennis player, but Paul Drinkhall likes a good steak and chips as much as the next man. With dual energy requirements of explosive speed and aerobic endurance, table tennis is a sport with challenging nutritional needs. Drinkhall, 26, has just been named in the Team GB line-up for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games in a little over two months’ time, and will need to be in peak condition to perform at his best on the biggest sporting stage of all. But the London 2012 Olympian admitted that the rigours of travelling the world for a living make keeping a consistent diet, and staying adequately fuelled for performance, a challenge.
“If you’re just going on for a match then you need those food or drinks that are high in sugars,” said the Middlesbrough-born star.
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Sportsbeat 2016