Five Olympics athletics wagers: Jamaica relay double, Farah features in fourfold

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.