It is the second day of action in the Rio 2016 Olympics athletics competition and all of Great Britain are hoping and expecting another Super Saturday just like four years ago in London. On that occasion Greg Rutherford, Mo Farah and Jessica Ennis all won gold medals within 45 minutes of each other and their finals all take place in a packed day of track and field on Saturday.
To add to the attention and focus we will also see the great Usain Bolt on the track for the first time on Saturday so we are in for a spectacular day of action.
Gold Medal Events
- Men’s Discus
- Men’s Long Jump
- Men’s 10,000m
- Women’s 100m
- Women’s Heptathlon
Other Events
- Men’s 100m
- Women’s Triple Jump
- Women’s 3,000m Steeplechase
- Women’s 400m
- Men’s Pole Vault
- Men’s 400m
- Men’s 800m
The athletics programme got underway in some style on Friday with an emphatic world record in the Women’s 10,000m and a surprise winner of the Women’s Shot and hopefully we get some more high class athletics on Saturday.
The beauty of the Olympic Games is that all of the events have qualifying in the field and long distance events and heats and semi-finals in the sprints so we get the chance to see all the athletes before we form a betting opinion on them. With that in mind I’m going to focus on the four finals on Saturday. The one I won’t focus on is the heptathlon which we previewed in Friday’s preview.
Men’s Discus
World champion Piotr Malachowski is the odds on favourite to win this final and having thrown the furthest in qualifying that is probably fair. He has the two leading throws in the world this year as well so he is the one to beat but having seen a favourite gubbed at the last hurdle in the shot on Friday I can’t be taking odds on about anyone in a rare morning final.
Men’s 10,000m
All eyes are on one man here and that is Great Britain’s Mo Farah. Will the Africans come together and run the finish out of him? They never seem to do it in these big meetings and maybe that is because they can’t. Farah is a huge favourite at 1/4 and we can’t really disagree with that.
If there was an each way market on the race we might have considered his training partner Galen Rupp at a massive price but really it is Farah’s gold to lose. We’ll sit back and hope the Mobot gets produced after this race!
Men’s Long Jump
The second part of Super Saturday four years ago came courtesy of Greg Rutherford and he is just about through to defend his title. I say that because he fouled on his first two jumps in qualifying and didn’t make the automatic distance with his third jump but his 7.90m was enough to sneak through. Now the action really begins though.
So bad was Rutherford in qualifying that he has gone from favourite to second favourite but his second foul was only marginal but the Brit soared miles into the sand and had he got a white flag he would have led qualifying with that so I’m not writing the champion off just yet.
The bright side for Rutherford is that while he did qualify two medal dangers Mike Hartfield and Michel Torneus failed to come through which will encourage the Brit and while in the likes of Jeff Henderson and Jarrion Lawson there are still big dangers Rutherford will fancy his chances.
If we look at jumps throughout the year the Briton barely registers high up in the field but his season has been injury hit but he looks in good shape now and we know he regularly delivers the goods when it really matters in the final. I might not have taken him at his original price but the 3/1 is now too big to ignore.
Women’s 100m
It wasn’t the best set of heats in the women’s 100m on Friday night but all of the favourites came through. If the track remains slow that could really benefit the favourite for gold in Dafne Schippers but I expect the track to quicken up if the rain stays away and that might not be good for the Dutch star. She is better over the 200m.
Tori Bowie, English Gardner and Elaine Thompson are all expected to run well but it might not be time to go against the Jamaican sprinter Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce just yet. Her season has been decimated by injury but she looked really good in the heats and we know she can deliver on the big stage.
Timings wise on the year this is all about Elaine Thompson and if she gets down to her 10.70s time she will take a lot of beating but I’m prepared to stick with the major championship quality that comes in the form of Fraser-Pryce.
Tips
Back G.Rutherford to win Men’s Long Jump for a 2/10 stake at 4.00 with Betfair
Back him here:
Back S-A.Fraser-Pryce to win Women’s 100m for a 3/10 stake at 4.50 with Betfred
Back her here:
