2012 Olympics - Men's 400m Hurdles Final

Wales have already had 3 medallists at this Olympics although if you were to ask them who their best chance would have been before he games, the emphatic answer would have been World 400m hurdles Champion Dai Greene, who won the title in such exhilarating style in Deagu when running down hot favourite Javier Culson in the last 10m after the final hurdle.

Hopes for him retaining his title would obviously have been extremely high going into the games and the steady improvement that Greene usually takes with him into a major final had been well evident – the Welshman had recorded 2 of his 3 lifetime bests in the weeks leading up the Olympics, dipping under 48 seconds for just the second time in his career in Paris at the Diamond League – but he was beaten easily by Javier Culson on both occasions, taking it to four wins in heads to heads races between the two since Deagu.

Considering he ran a dreadful race in the heats and only qualified for the final as a fastest loser (he himself has said he’s not feeling right), Dai Greene has been incredibly fortunate to be drawn in lane three of nine (lane one is not used), with all his principal rivals outside him. Greene was ranked only sixth going into the Wold Championships before springing a surprise win, so not all hope is lost, but Culson – who closed down double Olympic Champion Angelo Taylor with ease in his semi final despite running marginally slower than Cuban hotshot Felix Sanchez - looks to be in the best form of his carrer this year and can take the gold on a speed favouring track, making amends for losing out in Deagu where stamina was heavily favoured. The 7-5 on him doing so is an outstanding shot.

Two-time World champion Sanchez – the fastest semi-final winner - won his semifinal in an impressive 47.76 seconds, the world’s best time this year, and just 0.13 seconds slower than when he won gold in Athens. He’s a big threat to Culson for gold although the suspicion is that the Purta Rican wasn’t giving everything in his semi when winning.

They have it between them for gold, with two time Olympic champion Angelo Taylor (2000 and 2008) likely to be the third best according to bookmakers, which seems fair on his semi final second where he had Culson in trouble tonight before the end of the race. Another American, Michael Tinsley, beat Taylor at the US Trials and is an interesting medal outsider, although Taylor stumbled when coming to win his race at the final hurdle and might be in the better shape this time round, so makes more appeal for a medal.

Advice

5 pts Javier Culson (7/5 Sportingbet)

1 pt Angelo Taylor to win a medal (6/4 Hills)