Men’s 200m freestyle: Sun Yang, Yannick Angel, Ryan Lochte, Paul
Bidermann and Park Thewan. An Olympic fantasy team or 5 of the competitors for
the 200m freestyle final? Luckily for everyone, it’s the latter and we should
be set for a scorching final between 5 great swimmers, 4 of which have already
medalled, while the other holds the world record, which is enough to make you
forget that defending champion Michael Phelps has sadly dropped this event. Given
the quality of the competitors, the 4/1 freely available on the exchanges
for a new world record is interesting
and might be worth an interest at the least, with plenty of records going and
the effort level guaranteed to be at its highest.
Picking the winner is extremely difficult, with plenty of
evidence that any of the big 5 could win. The first Chinese man to win an
Olympic swimming gold (when beating Park Thewan into second after the Korean
was let into the final on appeal), Sun clocked the fastest time of one minute,
45.61 seconds in Sunday's semi-finals although Lochte, who won the 400 individual
medley gold on Saturday, swam a more conservative semi, saving his energy for
the men's 4x100 freestyle relay final, in which he finished second as part of the
USA, where Yannick Angel pulled the swim of his life to beat him in the final
100m. Yang looks to be a strong favourite after his 400m but at 3/1 there’s a
temptation to side with Angel, knowing that he has a slight measure of Lochte,
although this is a final to watch and savour rather than go all in, with the
knowledge that a gold for China’s Su Yang would be good for us on the whole.
Advice
1 pt Yannick Angel (3/1 Youwin)
Men’s 100m Backstroke: It must be a source of frustration
for many that there’s no 50m backstroke at the Olympics much loved Brit Liam
Tancock has won gold in that event at the last two World Championships and
would rank a strong favourite to take gold. As it is, he’s got to go double the
distance and that takes a lot of the raw speed away from him after the turn. It’s
to be hoped that he can repeat Rebecca Adlington’s performance on Sunday and
take a bronze medal anyway, but a gold looks to be a step too far.
This should come down to a straight fight between American
Matt Grevers and Frenchman Camille Lacourt (pictured above), and while it’s hard to argue with
Grevers being a hot favourite – He’s been the fastest on the planet at this
distance for a long time, posted the fastest time in the heats, and now has no
Aaron Piersol, the world record holder courtesy of his gold at the last
Olympics, to contend with), a price of 2/9 overall (he’s 3/5 with Youwin) is
far too short and World Champion Lacourt, who won the other semi-final in 53.03
to be second overall, is 5/1 in a virtual match despite the fact that he eased
up late on in his semi. The ½ for him getting a medal seems to be better value
than the 2/9 on Grevers.
Advice
1 pt Camille Lacourt (5/1 Stan James)
4 pts Camille Lacourt to medal
(1/2 Ladbrokes)
Women’s 100m Backstroke: 4 years
ago Emily Seebohm couldn’t handle the pressure of the Olympics and was only
ninth in the final of the 100m backstroke, but she heads into today’s final a
much stronger woman and athlete and it’ll take something exceptional to knock
her off the top spot. Seebohm broke the Olympic record with 58.23sec in the
heats - just 0.11sec short of the world record, set by 2009 world champion
Gemma Spofforth at the height of the supersuit era - and backed it up with a
dominant 58.39 in the semi-final, when more than a second ahead of US sensation
17 year old Missy Franklin. With more in the tank to come, she can win another
gold for Australia and possibly threaten the World Record in doing so. The 1/2 about Missy Franklin getting a medal
of any kind is interesting despite the price given how strong she’s looked in
her heats, while Australian Belina Hocklin and Japanese Aya Terkwaka are bronze
medal contenders.
Advice
3 pts Emily Seebohm (4/5 Youwin*)
Women’s 100m breaststroke: This
looks to be a straight fight between Lithuanian teenager Ruta Meilutyte (left) and
American Rebecca Soni, and with the former having posted a new European record,
it’s hard to switch allegiances at this moment in time. Just 15, she blazed to
a near Olympic record in semifinal two of the event with a scorching 1:05.21,
the fourth fastest of all time in the event's history, surpassing the European
record of 1:05.41 from the 2009 World Championships in the process.
Rebecca Soni won her semi-final in
1:05.98 and looks a banker to medal, although her chances of overturning the
favourite on times look to be quite slim and she may have to settle for another
silver medal following Beijing four years ago. Breja Larson did beat her in the
US Olympic trials and while that form wasn’t confirmed in the semis, she is
evens to win a medal (essentially racing for Bronze if the top two turn up) and
that might tempt some, with Australia's Leisel Jones, the defending Olympic
champion who won a silver medal at the 2000 Sydney Games when she was 15, finishing
sixth overall.
Advice
2 pts Ruta Meilutyte (8/11
Betfair)
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