(3:43.42), Mack Horton of Australia and Gabriele Detti o

Mercedes is ready to make a brave decision when it comes to picking a replacement for Nico Rosberg next year, team boss Toto Wolff has said.Mercedes management has been meeting on the subject this week following Rosbergs surprise announcement on Friday that he had retired from the sport after winning his first world title. Speaking in an interview with Sky Sports this week, Wolff said Mercedes would not shy away from making a bold decision.Clearly, with Nico taking the decision quite late we are in a bit of a compromised situation because if we had known three months ago there were more options available, he said. Maybe we need to make a brave decision in the same way Nico has made a brave decision.With most of the grid under contract next year, options appear to be limited and 2016 Manor driver Pascal Wehrlein, who is on a long-term Mercedes junior driver contract, remains the obvious choice.However, Wolff said earlier this week that he would consider Fernando Alonso as a candidate, potentially reuniting the Spaniard with former teammate Lewis Hamilton for the first time since their explosive partnership at McLaren in 2007. It remains unclear if Alonso would be able to get out of his current contract at McLaren and whether Mercedes would be willing to take the risk of having two big-name drivers in the same team.Mercedes junior driver Esteban Ocon is also in the running, despite signing a contract to race with Force India next year, but with just nine races under his belt his promotion would represent a different kind of risk.Wolff said it was important for Mercedes to have a driver who could come close to matching Hamilton in terms of raw pace.It is about out and out pace, he explained. Mistakes are a different topic. Only on very few occasions have we seen Lewis or Nico making a mistake or colliding. More than 90 per cent of the races weve been able to score maximum points, so that is a consideration.Then the out and out pace in order to challenge Lewis and grow the general performance within the team. We need somebody that goes lightning fast. To combine all those three factors is what Nico has been able to do over the years.We will not change the philosophy. We want to have two drivers with equal opportunities that can race each other, because I think we owe that to the fans and ourselves. Its the way we want racing to happen.Williams driver Valtteri Bottas has also been linked to the drive, but Wolff, who is also a part of the Finns management team, said it would be tricky to get him out of his contract.Hes with Williams now, the lead driver, and is very important for the combination with Lance Stroll. Claire [Williams] and her team very much rely on him. Cheap Air Max 720 Uk . 10 Texas A&Ms offence dominated as usual against SMU. Air Max 720 Sale Uk . The Court of Arbitration for Sport ruling "puts an end to my dreams of being a top player," the 27-year-old Troicki said in a statement. "I worked my entire life for it, and it has been taken away from me in one afternoon by a doctor I didnt know," said Troicki, whose ranking peaked at No. http://www.cheapairmax720uk.com/ . Malkin got tangled up with Detroits Luke Glendening early in the third period and his left skate took the brunt of collision with the boards behind Pittsburghs net. Cheap Air Max 720 Wholesale . -- Mike Smith never saw his first NHL goal go in. Air Max 720 Cheap Wholesale . Halifax beat the Saint John Sea Dogs 7-5 on the strength of two goals apiece from Nikolaj Ehlers, Matt Murphy and Brent Andrews. Jonathan Drouin also scored and had three assists while Zachary Fucale made 17 saves for the Mooseheads (16-8-0), who led 6-1 after two periods. RIO DE JANEIRO -- Swimming got off to a fast start in preliminaries at the Olympic pool on Saturday, with a world record in the mens 100-meter breaststroke, the second-fastest performance ever in the womens 400 individual medley and a defending champion knocked out.Adam Peaty of Britain lowered his own world mark with a time of 57.55 seconds in the 100 breast heats, leading 15 others into the semifinals later in the evening.Katinka Hosszu of Hungary just missed setting a world record in the 400 IM. Her time of 4 minutes, 28.58 seconds was the second-quickest ever in the event and just 15-hundreths off of Ye Shiwens mark of 4:28.43. Ye wont defend her Olympic title after she failed to qualify for the final. She finished 27th out of 33 swimmers.Katie Ledecky opened her Olympic program by swimming the anchor leg of the 4x100 freestyle relay. She rallied the Americans from third to second in their heat with the fastest 100 split (52.64) among teammates Amanda Weir, Lia Neal and Allison Schmitt.It just made the first swim of the meet a lot more fun than it normally is, Ledecky said. I think that bodes well for the rest of the week.Ledecky will try to sweep the 200, 400 and 800 freestyles for the first time since 1968 in her individual events.Overall, the Australian quartet of Madison Wilson, Brittany Elmslie and sisters Bronte and Cate Campbell qualified first in 3:32.39. The United States was next in 3:33.59, and Canada took third in 3:33.84. The Aussies are the defending Olympic champions, while the Americans havent won gold since 1996.In the 100 breast, Brazilian fans cheered wildly for Felipe Franca, who qualified third-fastest. Also moving on to the late-night semifinals were Americans Kevin Cordes (fourth) and Cody Miller (fifth).Peaty wasnt full of adrenaline until he walked on deck.You can either be shy of the arena or you can take advantage of it, he said. Going down that first 50, I knew it was fast, and I knew I turned fast. It wasnt until 25 meters to go, the crowd started to roar. I knew there were no Brazilians in this race, so theyve got to be shouting for something.Hosszu is seeking the first Olympic gold medal of her career, having long dominated at the world championships. She finished fourth in tthe 400 IM four years ago in London.ddddddddddddIn the mens 400 IM, Chase Kalisz of the United States had the top time of 4:08.12. Japanese teammates Daiya Seto and Kosuke Hagino were second and third, while American Jay Litherland was fourth in making the final.The grueling event featuring all four strokes -- butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle -- was missing its two biggest stars. Michael Phelps, the world record holder and two-time Olympic champion, dropped the race for his fifth games and defending champion Ryan Lochte didnt qualify at the U.S. trials.Sarah Sjostrom of Sweden qualified fastest in the 100 butterfly heats with a time of 56.26. American Dana Vollmer, the silver medalist in London, was second in 56.56.A heat of the 400 freestyle included defending Olympic champion Sun Yang of China and 2012 silver medalist Park Tae-hwan of South Korea, both having served doping suspensions. Park finished 10th and didnt advance to the final.Sun had the fourth-quickest time of 3:44.23, behind top qualifier Conor Dwyer of the U.S. (3:43.42), Mack Horton of Australia and Gabriele Detti of Italy.In 2014, Sun served a three-month suspension for using a banned stimulant.Horton was asked about a reported incident between the two at the practice pool earlier in the week. The Aussie said Sun splashed me to say hello, and I didnt respond because I dont have time for drug cheats.In another 400 free heat, Miguel Duran Navia of Spain dived in too early, triggering an automatic disqualification.He slapped the water and hung his head on the lane line, realizing he was out of his only individual event. Duran appeared emotional as he picked up his clothing and walked off the deck while fans applauded in sympathy.Moments later, Duran reappeared and took his position on the starting block, having been given a reprieve.He said he heard a sound from the stands that caused him to false start.Duran finished seventh in his heat with a time that was five seconds worse than his personal best and failed to advance to the final.I was very nervous, my mind wasnt where it was supposed to be, he said. ' ' '