Men’s 200m Breastroke: After disappointment barring Rebecca
Adlington’s bronze in the 400m freestyle, it looks as if we might have
something to cheer about in the Men’s 200m breastroke finals after Michael
Jamieson and Andrew Willis put in a pair of storming performances in the semis
to go 1st and third fastest on times for the final. Scotland's
Jamieson broke the British record to post the fastest time in the semi-finals
(the third fastest time in the world this year), while Willis broke the English
record as he recorded the third-fastest time.
With repeats of those performances, both can medal but the
party might be spolit by Daniel Gyurta. A prodigious swimmer, he’s only 23 but
took silver in Athens eight years ago, but failed to make the medals in
Beijing. He’s since improved to another level since though and now comes here
as the double European and World Champion at this distance and he looked in
good shape when winning his heat, where he had more left in the tank, which he
can use to beat Jamieson – who looks to be his chief rival on times. He’s gone
odds on in a lot of places but there’s still 5/6 available and that looks to be
the best bet.
The other major contender is Japan's Kosuke Kitajima, who
has one last chance to complete the elusive golden treble that has evaded even
Michael Phelps, of taking a single event three times. Kitajima won the
breaststroke double at Athens in 2004 and Beijing four years later, but his
first shot went array when missing out on a medal in the 100m backstroke and
that spells trouble for him here in much the same way that Phelps’s defeats
early on suggested the flames weren’t burning as brightly as they’d been 4
years ago. He’s over a second behind on heat times and while he can do better,
I don’t think he has it in him to be turning around that time in the final. A
medal is a 13/10 shot and bornze looks to be his best shout, with Andrew Willis
sure to have home support in his quest to get on the podium.
Advice: 6 pts Daniel Guryta (5/6 general)
Women’s 200m Butterfly final: This looks to be a heavyweight
clash between World Champion and Beijing
silver medallist China's Liuyang Jiao and stunning American Katheleen Hershey,
with the two going through their semi’s in extremely impressive style visually
while both having more left in the tank. Jiao timed her heat swim exactly right
and I expect bigger and better from her in the final, but Hershey had just as
much in hand when posting a quicker time and at the bigger price of the two,
looks the slight value in what should be a cracking race. Should she be beaten
by Jiao, we have the benefit of knowing that a gold medal for her would push
China towards the magic number of 38 gold or more needed in our big outright preview.
The only others within touching distance are Japan's Natsumi
Hoshi – fourth-place finisher at last year's World Championships and third
quickest in the heats - and Chinese world record holder Zige Liu – who hasn’t
found her best form of late, disappointing at the National trials and then clocking
a slowish time in the semis. Hoshi is much preferred of the two and can be
backed at 4/5 for a medal of any kind (it’s likely that she’s just swimming for bronze) while
Jemma Lowe has a big amount of ground to make up on the world’s elite despite
home support.
Advice: 1 pt Kathleen Hersey (9/5 Sportingbet)
Men’s 100m Freestyle: This is all about James "The
Missile" Magnussen (left), who botched up his relay leg of the 4X100m, which left
the Aussies without a medal in the pool. Following his win in last year's
championships, Magnussen bragged that he would win the Olympic gold and break
the world record, but he’s learned a lot from the brash overconfidence that he
showed judged on his impressive semi-final win, beating Brazilan Cesar Filho by
half a second with plenty left in reserve after a superb second leg saw him
clock 47.63. World record-holder Cielho (48.17) was quick down the first lap
but was overtaken by Magnussen on the sprint home and is more of a 50m man.
Yannick Angel has the talent to win this, but I think the
200m is more his event and he looked tired after surprise after the efforts
required to win gold in the 200m free and the 4x100m relay, and he’s only
seventh fastest. A day’s rest could do him a lot of good, but today might be
the day to side with Nathan Adrian, who dipped under 48 seconds for the second
time so far when winning his heat and was second only to Mangussen. He can
challenge for the gold and get a medal tonight. He’s 11/5 without Magnussen,
which is bigger than the 8/13 on the Aussie.
Advice: 1 pt Nathan Adrian without James Magussen (11/5
Betfair)
Women's 4x200m Freestyle Relay: With the overwhelming talent that they have, the USA are worthy
favourites, although at 2/5 they’re too short to back, which comes with the majority
of their teams at this event. Australia are 3/1 second favourites but don’t
look to have the shock value that France have in this category, and it’s the
French and Chinese that make most appeal for the bronze medal postion, with
France just edging the vote despite China holding the World record.
Advice: 1 pt France to medal (2/1 Hills)
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