It is a two session day of athletics in the Rio Olympics on Monday and after the spectacular Sunday inside the Olympic Stadium everyone will be hoping for plenty more excellent performances and inspirational outcomes on day four of the track and field programme.
Gold Medal Events
- Women’s Hammer
- Women’s 3,000m Steeplechase
- Men’s Pole Vault
- Men’s 800m
- Women’s 400m
Other Events
- Men’s Triple Jump
- Women’s 200m
- Men’s 3,000m Steeplechase
- Men’s 400m Hurdles
- Women’s Discus
- Men’s 110m Hurdles
- Women’s 400m Hurdles
Usually this week I’ve been saving myself for just the finals and largely that is what I’m going to do here but there is an event which I like the look of before it begins so I’m going to take that too. That is the Women’s 200m but first we’ll go through the finals.
Women’s Hammer
With the suspension of the Russian athletes we are left with a huge favourite for the gold medal here. Anita Wlodarczyk is no bigger than 1/20 to win the gold medal and that says all we need to know.
Sophie Hitchon goes for Great Britain and hopefully she performs with distinction but there isn’t a bet we like in this final so we’ll sit back and cheer for her.
Women’s 3,000m Steeplechase
We have another odds on favourite for this event too albeit Ruth Jebet is only a 4/5 shot. When you look at the heats you would wonder why that is because she won her heat a full 12 seconds quicker than her market rival Hyvin Kiyeng Jepkemoi but heats and finals are different things.
We expect the Kenyan to come on for that run to use racing parlance but neither of the front two are a price which really stands out and screams at us to back it so we’ll leave this one alone.
Men’s Pole Vault
The first pole vault final of the Games takes place on Monday evening and it will surprise nobody that Renaud Lavillenie is an emphatic favourite at 1/3. He has the leading two jumps in the world this year but the American vaulter Sam Kendricks has been improving all year which could be significant.
I wouldn’t necessarily put anyone off backing Kendricks at 6/1 but the Frenchman’s experience at the top level is enough to make us think he will win so we’ll tentatively leave this event alone.
Men’s 800m
Can anyone beat David Rudisha? The bookmakers don’t think so with the Kenyan star 2/5 to back up his London gold with another here. He has already seem a couple of rivals fall by the wayside on the way to this final which should give encouragement to the great man.
I don’t think Rudisha will lose here but we’ve seen enough favourites fall in these Games to tell me taking 2/5 shots, especially in an event as tactical and potentially changeable as the 800m, isn’t going to prove lucrative. I’ll sit this out and see if Rudisha can follow Farah and Bolt into the legend books.
Women’s 400m
This is one of those events where by taking a look at the competitors I’ve actually missed the boat. This event was always going to be between Allyson Felix and Shaunae Miller. Miller was the favourite going into the event but I fancied Felix.
Sadly for us Felix looked so good that she has become a warm favourite for the final now. She is no bigger than 8/13 and as I’ve said above those sort of prices aren’t for me so I’ll watch Felix win and regret not getting involved earlier.
Women’s 200m
I’m not making that mistake in this event. Elaine Thompson will be looking to do the sprint double after claiming the 100m title on Saturday. That win has made her shorten into 10/11 for this event but I don’t fancy her as strongly.
Tori Bowie goes into the event off the back of a very solid silver in the 100m and she shouldn’t be ruled out and neither should the 400m specialist Shaunae Miller. All British eyes will be on the exciting Dina Asher-Smith to see what she can deliver. I’m against all of them though.
For me the bet of the athletics meeting comes in this event and I’m with the world champion from the Netherlands in Dafne Schippers. Schippers actually began the 100m as the favourite but that distance is too short for her. She’s a tall, rangy athlete who takes a long time to hit full speed, similar to Usain Bolt albeit she doesn’t have his stride size to get back reliably.
In the 200 metres through things are different. She has plenty of time to hit top gear and when she gets motoring around the bend it takes a very good athlete to stop her. Schippers has four of the top six times this year and is one of only two women to go under the 22s mark. She’s now second favourite at 13/8 but she’s the favourite for me.
Tips
Back D.Schippers to win Women’s 200m for a 5/10 stake at 2.63 with Ladbrokes
Back her here:
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