The Tokyo 2020 Olympics are heading into the home straight now and on Wednesday the action continues out in the Japanese capital on a day where there will be another 17 Olympic champions crowned over a number of sports.
We are beginning to see some standout performances in almost all of the Olympic venues now and as the competition intensifies we should expect to see plenty more historical moments over the course the day.
Gold Medal Events
- Artistic Swimming
- Athletics
- Boxing
- Cycling
- Equestrian
- Marathon Swimming
- Sailing
- Skateboarding
- Weightlifting
- Wrestling
Other Sports
Away from the gold medals being given out the highlights of the sport on show on Wednesday are the women’s hockey semi-finals where Team GB will continue the defence of their title. The men’s quarter finals of the beach volleyball, the first baseball semi-final, the start of the women’s golf competition, the last eight of the women’s handball and volleyball and the quarter finals of the men’s water polo. There is still a lot on in Japan on Wednesday.
Marathon Swimming
We’ve had all the pool swims at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and on Wednesday the open water marathon swims begin with the women kicking things off as they get in the water for the 10km swim. This 6.25 mile test will certainly provide a survival of the fittest in water in which the temperatures are going to be high even with a 6.30am start time.
The world champion Xin Xin is the favourite to win the gold medal. She finished an agonising fourth at the Rio Olympics but won the World Championship in 2019 but around the 13/8 mark she looks plenty short enough in a stacked competition. The Brazilian swimmer Ana Marcela Cunha has achieved plenty in the open water swimming world but she has never won a 10km Olympic or world title with all her World Championship wins coming at 5km or 25km. She will hope to end that barren run here while Sharon van Rouwendaal, the defending champion, will be looking to be the first woman to win this race twice. Italian swimmer Rachele Bruni has been a regular on global podiums without winning at world level and she’s entitled to be in the mix.
I think the woman that has been forgotten to some extent in the betting is the American swimmer Haley Anderson. I say that because she was less than a second behind Xin Xin in the World Championship a couple of years ago and she has won a race in Tokyo before in the Pan Pacific games of 2018 where she had a couple of her rivals here behind her in the end. Anderson has been very consistent in her career. She was the silver medallist in London, fifth in Rio and second in the last World Championship in Gwangju. At four times the price when she has less than a second to find on Xin Xin from that race, Anderson looks the value to me.
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Athletics
We have a belting day of athletics in Tokyo on Wednesday across the two sessions of action. The athletics really came to life on Tuesday with a brilliant Men’s 400m Hurdles final and on Wednesday it will be the turn of the women to showcase their one lap skills over the barriers in what looks like a very tasty renewal of the race. I think it would be fair to assume that the world record holder Sydney McLaughlin, Dutch ace Femke Bol and Dalilah Muhammad will be the three who win the medals barring accident but I fancy the Netherlands star to upset the applecart here. Bol is undefeated on the Diamond League circuit this year and has already shaved off a second and a half off her PB this term. She still has half a second to find on best times with McLaughlin but her flat speed is such that she was drafted in to the Dutch Mixed 4x400m relay squad. She has looked very good in the first two rounds of this and completely eased down in her semi-final to save something for this race. McLaughlin is a worthy favourite based on that WR she ran at the US trials but Bol can push her all the way and pip her at the line.
The appealing final in the evening session on Wednesday is the Men’s 200m Final which probably has a fair bit to live up to after what was ultimately a disappointing conclusion to the 100m earlier in the Games. Andre de Grasse went into the final of the 100m as the favourite but could only settle for the bronze medal and although he broke his PB in the semi-finals on Tuesday, I fancy he is for the minor honours here too. Noah Lyles proclaimed he was the next Usain Bolt ahead of the Championships but unlike Bolt, the brash American found out that he can’t afford to ease down in a semi-final and ended up progressing as a fastest loser which has given him a hard lane draw. I think that opens the door to the cocky American teenager Erriyon Knighton, the man who ran 20.02 in his semi-final but only truly ran 50m of that race! That was still enough to cruise through and given that he hasn’t got three rounds of the 100m in his legs unlike de Grasse and also has the plum lane draw in five, I think he’s the one to take the title off Usain Bolt not his American teammate.
Tips
Back H.Anderson to win Women’s 10km Marathon Swim for a 1/10 stake at 8.00 with Bet365
Back F.Bol to win Women’s 400m Hurdles for a 1/10 stake at 4.25 with Coral
Back her here:
Back E.Knighton to win Men’s 200m for a 2/10 stake at 3.75 with Betway
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