The Tokyo 2020 Olympics continues on Thursday with a number of sports continuing their progress ahead of the Games going up a notch on Friday when the athletics competitions get underway. 17 gold medallists will be crowned on another excellent day of sport on Thursday.
We’ve seen shocks, surprises, favourites winning and outstanding performances over the first five days of action and if this Olympics is anything to go by we should expect nothing different across all the venues on Thursday.
Gold Medal Events
- Artistic Gymnastics
- Canoe Slalom
- Fencing
- Judo
- Rowing
- Shooting
- Swimming
- Table Tennis
Other Sports
It is another day full of sporting action out in Tokyo on Thursday. As ever we’ll preview the tennis tournament elsewhere but there is the BMX cycling which is a lot of fun to watch as well as the continuation of events such as archery, badminton, hockey, baseball, basketball, beach volleyball, volleyball, handball and water polo. There is also the start of the women’s Rugby 7s, which if it is half as good as the men’s event will be well worth watching.
Rowing
We have more rowing finals out in Japan on Thursday and while the headline race is probably men’s pair but the three other finals will all be worth watching and I think there is betting potential in the Lightweight Women’s Double Sculls Final where Great Britain look overpriced to deliver the goods despite only being the third fastest in the semi-finals.
They were in the weaker of the two semi-finals in terms of the times of the two teams who qualified with them though and had it won a fair way out. That makes me think there is more to come from the British pair, whose time at the time was the fastest in the world this year until the Italians won the next semi around half a second quicker. The British pair were bronze medallists in the World Championship in 2019 and are an experienced boat. The New Zealand boat who won gold there hasn’t qualified for this final while the Dutch silver medallists were behind GB in the semi-final. This hasn’t been a great regatta for Great Britain so far but the women can make up for that here.
Special Offer
OPEN AN ACCOUNT WITH 888SPORT AND BET £10 TO GET £30 IN FREE BETS PLUS A £10 CASINO BONUS! PERFECT OFFER TO USE ON THE OLYMPICS! CLICK THE IMAGE BELOW TO JOIN. USE CODE 30F. NEW ACCOUNTS ONLY. 18+ T&Cs apply (See image for significant terms). Gamble Aware.
Swimming
There are another five gold medals to be won in the swimming pool on Thursday with the relay ending the session once again and the men’s 800m starting out the schedule. It is the eagerly anticipated clash in the men’s 100m freestyle that has my attention from a betting point of view though where the next big American thing Caeleb Dressel is expected to win the gold even though he was only the second fastest in the semi-finals.
Dressel is being spoken of as the new Michael Phelps, which might be pushing it a little bit but I certainly think he appeared to take it fairly easy when he had his semi-final run and I think he might have more in the tank compared to the European champion Kliment Kolesnikov who was the fastest qualifier and probably the one the American has to beat. If Dressel is what they say he is then it is time to deliver the goods and at odds against considering he only has 0.12 secs to make up which is nothing if indeed he did ease down, I think the American star is the value here.
Canoe Slalom
It is the turn of the women’s C1 competition to take to the rapids of the canoe slalom track on Thursday where the semi-finals and the final take place over the course of the Japanese afternoon. We’ve had the heats already so all the qualifiers have had a couple of runs down the water. That has given us a good indication of what to expect over the final two runs.
Clearly this is a delicate sport in that one wrong stretch of water can end the hopes of anyone making it quite volatile but I think the 2017 world champion Mallory Franklin is good value even though she is priced up as the second favourite. The Briton was the fastest in both runs in the initial stage of the competition, once on the clock outright and the other when the penalty seconds were added. That means she’ll go down the run last in the semi-final which means she’ll know exactly what is required for a good position in the final. Her main rival is slated to be Jessica Fox of Australia but in the first runs Franklin was 2.45s and 5.87s quicker than her. Indeed the Brit’s 103.06 time is the fastest time of the competition so far. This is a volatile event but the Brit looks a good bet to me.
Tips
Back Great Britain to win Lightweight Women’s Double Sculls Final for a 2/10 stake at 3.60 with Betfair
Back them here:
Back C.Dressel to win Men’s 100m Freestyle for a 2/10 stake at 2.20 with William Hill
Back him here:
Back M.Franklin to win Canoe Slalom Women’s C1 for a 2/10 stake at 3.75 with BetVictor
Back her here:
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2021
