The final week of the Paris 2024 Olympics gets underway in the French capital on Monday when some sports conclude and others get up and running on a day where we will see another 20 gold medal winners crowned.
As has been the case throughout these games we have some sporting superstars doing their thing across the many venues that are on show on a day where we could see history made from a British and world standpoint.
Gold Medal Events
- Artistic Gymnastics
- Athletics
- Badminton
- 3×3 Basketball
- Canoe Slalom
- Shooting
- Surfing
- Track Cycling
- Triathlon
Other Sports
We are in for an exciting day of action on Monday. We will preview the men’s football semi-finals elsewhere on this side but either side of those we have the beginning of the artistic swimming, track cycling, sport climbing and wrestling while the team sports all have another day of action as the hockey, basketball, volleyball, handball and water polo go a day closer to completion. There are also more knockout matches in the table tennis and beach volleyball competitions so there is a whole lot to enjoy.
Triathlon
We had the individual triathlons last week and if the water plays ball in the Seine we will have the mixed team relay version of the race in the early hours of Monday morning with teams of four racing over the shorter distance with the aim of getting their last athlete out in front to claim the gold medal. Teams are made of two men and two women with the first man opening the race before the imaginary baton gets passed to the first female. The second man takes the third leg of the race and the last female closes out the deal.
This looks to be a two-horse race with France the favourites ahead of the defending champions Great Britain and when you consider that a British male won the men’s event in Alex Yee and a French female won the women’s event in Cassandre Beaugrand that would be fair enough. The French men involved here were third and fourth in the individual triathlon with the women first and fourth so none of them were outside the first four. Britain had Yee win the men’s but the other male in this event, Sam Dickinson, didn’t finish as he set the pace for Yee while Beth Potter and Georgia Taylor-Brown were third and sixth respectively in the women’s race. Throw in the home crowds and I think France look a belting bet at a shade under even money.
Canoe Slalom
The canoe slalom events at these games conclude on Monday when the first running of the kayak cross finishes from the quarter final stages of both the men’s and women’s events. If you haven’t seen this before it is like the canoe slalom that has been around for a while except rather than individuals taking on the clock, four canoeists take on each other with the top two progressing until we get to the final. We had a seismic shock in the preliminary rounds of the women’s event on Sunday when the singles winner Jessica Fox finished last in her heat. That opens the door to the British pair of Kimberley Woods, the new favourite for gold, and Mallory Franklin but it is a wide open betting heat now.
That isn’t so much the case in the men’s side of things where Joe Clarke arrives at the Olympic debut of this event having won two world titles in it and he is looking very good having won all of his races here. The French pair of Boris Neveu and Titouan Castryck are on home water here with the latter the silver medallist in the Kayak Single event last week but it is clear that the combat gets the juices of Clarke going. Clarke had the fastest time in the semi-final of the single event but could only go fifth when going off last in the final but he looks to have mastered the rapids on this course and could take some beating over the duration of the Monday action.
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Cycling
The track cycling gets up and running inside the velodrome on Monday and the first gold medals will be awarded in the women’s team sprint event. If you are new to cycling this one is pretty simple. There are teams of three with the races three laps with the leading rider dropping off at the end of each lap to leave one rider to race for the finish line in the third lap and in terms of the final the gold medal. This one is fast and furious.
Germany are the dominant force in this event in recent times having won the last three world titles and they would think they deserve the Olympic title off the back of that but Great Britain are coming to the boil nicely and in the imperious Emma Finucane, favourite for the individual sprint later in the games, backed up by the experienced Sophie Capewell and Katy Marchant, GB could be the ones to be on. Capewell and Marchant will be given the task of handing over to Finucane in a good position and if she is on terms after two laps Britain will be hard to beat. China merit respect in this field while Dutch cycling is never far away but the Olympics might just have come at a good time for the British trio against a German team who might be vulnerable to fresh blood.
Athletics
There are four gold medals on the go in the Stade de France on Monday night and all the British attention will be on the first of the track finals which sees Keely Hodgkinson looking to go one better than she managed in the World Championship last year in the Women’s 800m. She looks like the one to beat and is overwhelming favourite for the gold and looks hard to oppose. The field finals are the Men’s Pole Vault, where Mondo Duplantis is even more of a strong thing than Hodgkinson, and the Women’s Discus. The best bet might come in the Women’s 5,000m final though.
That comes in the form of the 11/8 on the defending champion Sifan Hassan to win a medal. That is actually a big price when many bookmakers have her as the second favourite to win the race and while I would expect Faith Kipyegon, the star 5,000m runner this year, to get the better of her, the 1,500m speed of the Dutch representative should keep her in contention here. This could very easily turn into a race where the Ethiopians look to break the Kenyans which will give Hassan the chance to stalk the leaders and pick them off with that speed on the final lap. Solid odds against on the defending champion who was also a silver medallist in this event in Budapest at the World Championship last year is just too big to ignore.
Tips
Back France to win Mixed Relay Triathlon for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
Back J.Clarke to win Kayak Cross (KX-1) for a 3/10 stake at 2.10 with Boylesports
Back him here:
Back Great Britain to win Women’s Team Sprint for a 3/10 stake at 2.50 with Sky Bet
Back S.Hassan – Women’s 5,000m podium finish for a 3/10 stake at 2.38 with William Hill
Back her here:
