Crappy that they pulled the plug last minute on Murray, and can't sub him from a quota perspective. Sulliwald and Riddle, could have been selected, Sulliwald as a life's achievement or Riddle as an investment in the future. But lets not pretend, with or without a full strength Richard Murray that they had any chance at a medal in the relay, Ackerman and Sanders are both great athletes, but they give up too much to many of the ladies that they will face in the relay to keep them realistically in contention. They couldn't have gotten Sulliwald or Riddle there for the individual event, but it might have been possible for them to make it for the relay (the briefings are virtual, but the packet pick-up is in person, not sure if they have to pick up their packet to be relay eligible?). I hope they run him last in their relay, so that he doesn't get them lapped out before some of the others get to race.

As for Vilaca. I have been scratching my head at this one. The Joao's are established, and when they are on their day, can be in the mix, but Portugal's future is Vilaca. He's only 96th in the Olympic rankings, because his 2020 races didn't count, but in terms of podium potential, I'd still put his odds better as Perreria or Silva. That said, I suspect he got the shaft because they failed to qualify a second female slot for the games. They missed out on MTR selection, and on individual results, only Santos was ranked high enough to earn a slot. If there had been an MTR in play, they would have had to take Vilaca, but without that, I suspect, they picked their top 2 ranked athletes. I suspect will see a very Hungry Vilaca in Montreal, where the Superleague-esque format will suit him.

If I were placing bets on Montreal (which I am not), I would suspect that a number of those who got the Olympic shaft will be firing on all cylinders and will have good races (Spivey, Vilaca, Nat VC, Willian, McElroy, Kasper, Coldwell, etc.) (scratch Willian and McElroy, who are not on the MTL startlist at the moment)