Five Olympics athletics wagers: Jamaica relay double, Farah features in fourfold
Published:
Jamie Clark, Sports Editor | August 18, 2016
Five Olympics athletics wagers as Games near end
Another Olympic Games is coming to a close, but there are still plenty of sports betting opportunities open to punters!
Coral experts give five more Olympics athletic wagers for you to consider from the track and field action on Friday and Saturday, feature Mo Farah and Caster Semenya odds…
4x100m Jamaica Relay double
You can potentially double your money if you back Jamaica’s men and women to sweep the 4x100m relay races in Rio*. They’ve got a terrific record of getting the baton round.
With the male team (2/7) fronted by Usain Bolt and ladies quartet (4/7) set to contain both Shelly-Ann Fraser-Price and individual sprint double winner Elaine Thompson, it’s bold to bet against the Caribbean nation continuing their dominance.
Men’s Javelin: Choose Yego over Walcott
While Thomas Rohler is the world leader this year and 2/1 favourite for Gold, the German has never won a major medal.
It’s to Kershorn Walcott (5/2) of Trinidad and Tobago or Kenya’s Julius Yego (9/2), who is the reigning Commonwealth and world champion, that punters should be looking at for the Olympics title.
Yego got the better of Walcott in Beijing last summer, but the Caribbean thrower has done better this season. We’ve seen several times in track and field this week that what has gone before doesn’t matter.
If peaking once again at a major championships, Yego’s price of 9/2 is terrific value for him to complete his medal haul of top athletics titles.
Men’s Hammer: Tsikhan to take title
Dominant world leader Pawel Fajdek flopping in qualifying is a huge surprise, leaving this event wide open. Who can step into the breach and be among worthy Olympics athletics wagers then?
Ivan Tsikhan is the only other man to throw the Hammer beyond 80m this season, and the Belarus athlete is this a deserved market leader at 10/11.
Wojciech Nowicki (4/1), Fajdek’s fellow Pole, outperformed Tiskhan in qualifying, but the favourite is unlikely to have shown his full hand when bidding to progress to the final.
Dilshod Nazarov (7/2) of Tajikistan rates as the main danger, while London 2012 champion Krisztian Pars (7/1) has gone backwards since that Olympics success. Tsikhan rates a solid bet, though, to be mightiest with the Hammer.
Women’s Pole Vault: Sandi Morris has a real shout
With the Russians banned from competing in this event, there is a far more open feel to things and Sandi Morris could well follow up on breaking the outdoor American record in the run-up to Rio with a triumph at the Olympics.
This young US athlete is a terrific 2/1 chance for the Pole Vault, having cleared three separate heights over 4m 80cm, including her best-ever effort of 4m 93cm, which is also the world lead mark.
Although Ekaerini Stefanidi starts as favourite at 7/4 following a first-time qualifying clearance at 4m 60cm, the Greek athlete has 7cm to find to match Morris’ best this season.
Jennifer Suhr (5/2), another American, has been surpassed by her compatriot, but defending Olympic champion Yarisley Silva cannot be entirely counted out at 6/1 as the Cuban usually figures among major medals.
Middle and Long-Distance fourfold features Farah
Team GB’s Mo Farah is closing in on yet another long-distance double, having already retained his 10,000m title at the Olympics.
We put him forward as one leg of a favourites fourfold alongside Eliud Kipchoge (men’s Marathon), Asbel Kiprop (men’s 1500m) and Caster Semenya (women’s 800m).
Kenya’s Kiprop is a three-time winner at the World Athletics Championships over three-and-three-quarter laps, as well as Olympics champion back in 2008. Nobody else has run under 3:30 this season, and he has the third fastest 1500m in history.
Semenya, meanwhile, is world leader in the 800m for women this season, and has posted three times under 1:57 for running two laps. The South African is bidding to go one better than the Silver she scooped at London 2012.
Onto Farah, then. The defending Olympics 5,000m champion ran the fastest time of the year at the London Anniversary Games and looks irrepressible at 1/5.
Finally, Kenya’s Kipchoge ran the second-fastest Marathon in history with his 2:03:05 effort from the London Marathon back in April, and that is why he joins the other African-born athletes in this fantastic fourfold.
You can more than treble your money here, with a £5 stake returning £17.35*.
*Please note, all quoted odds above are correct prior to the events starting. Track competitions can have up to three rounds and field ones tend to have qualifying before the final.
Related
There’s more recommended bets for the Olympic Games on the Coral news athletics page.
