As the Olympic Games begins to wind down one sport which will get a lot of spotlight on Thursday is the athletics with the star of the games back on the track looking to secure a third successive sprint double. That is of course Usain Bolt who goes in the final of the Men’s 200m, one of six gold medals to be awarded on the day.
That is the undoubted highlight of the day but with plenty of action over the course of the two sessions we are in for another exciting day and night of track and field action throughout Thursday.
Gold Medal Events
- Men’s 400m Hurdles
- Men’s Shot Put
- Women’s Javelin
- Men’s Decathlon
- Women’s 400m Hurdles
- Men’s 200m
Other Events
- Women’s High Jump
- Women’s 4x100m Relay
- Men’s 4x100m Relay
- Men’s 1500m
- Women’s 800m
There should be lots of excitement across all the events on Thursday but we are going to focus on the finals in this preview.
Men’s 400m Hurdles
This is the one final in the earlier session of the day and the betting centres around Kerron Clement with the Jamaican hurdler Annsert Whyte the second favourite in what according to the odds is a two horse race. I see it that way too.
Annsert Whyte has run two really good times in this competition so far so on the back of that he has to be respected but he didn’t have much form coming into the meeting and he’s in the big time now which concerns me.
Kerron Clement has been getting faster and faster in the build up to these Games and he ran a seasons best in the semi-final so the American looks to be peaking at the right time and that’s good enough for me to take him to land the Olympic title for the first time.
Of the others Thomas Barr finished quickly in the semi-final to come through to the final but that was a weak semi. The Kenyan Boniface Tumuti is respected but we don’t see past Clement in this one.
Men’s Shot Put
This looks a wide open competition and one I’m not going to get involved in given that I’m still feeling the scars of being turned over in the women’s event by a complete outsider. That is enough to put me off a bet but of those who are betting maybe David Storl could be some value against the odds on Joe Kovacs.
Women’s Javelin
Barbora Spotakova is the favourite to extend her good record in the global javelin competitions but the fact she is 2/1 going into the final shows how open this event is. Just like with the men’s shot I’m not going to put forward a bet here as there isn’t much between the top women although all things being equal we fancy the experience of the Czech to come through.
Women’s 400m Hurdles
All the attention in this final is on the American athlete Dalilah Muhammed but she is heavy odds on to win, quite rightly so. While you can never take anything for granted in a hurdles race she is clearly the standout runner in the field and we don’t see her being beaten.
Of the rest Eilidh Doyle has the potential to run a big race but she keeps messing up her stride pattern in the home straight. If she can attack and not stutter into one of the last two hurdles she could reward medal backers at 6/1 in what looks a pretty open race behind Muhammed. If she wasn’t in the inside lane I’d get involved but she is so I’ll sit this one out.
Men’s 200m
The big final of the night but not as big as it could have been after the demise of Justin Gatlin and Yohan Blake in the semi-finals. Usain Bolt only has to finish to win you would think and the odds certainly reflect that.
Sadly with Gatlin and Blake exiting in the semi-finals we’ve missed the boat as far as the side markets are concerned for this final although thankfully a without Bolt market has gone up and LaShawn Merritt could be a big price at 4/1.
There’s no doubt Andre de Grasse is running well at the minute but if the semi-final is anything to go by he might look to go toe to toe with Bolt but that’s only likely to cost him rather than reward him. Merritt will run his own race and hasn’t really shown his hand in this competition yet.
Merritt didn’t really get much credit for his bronze in the 400m but his time in the final was quicker than anything anybody had run all year coming into the meeting so that shows he is running well and if the Canadian tries to go too hard to beat Bolt it could be to Merritt’s reward close home.
Tips
WON – Back K.Clement to win Men’s 400m Hurdles for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with Boylesports
Back him here:
Back L.Merritt to win Men’s 200m (w/o Bolt) for a 2/10 stake at 5.00 with Winner Sports
Back him here:
