World`s fastest man good value to Bolt in

The men`s 100 metres is the blue-riband event of any Olympic Games and the London 2012 edition, which bookmakers view as a head-to-head duel between Jamaican sprinters Yohan Blake and Usain Bolt, gets under way on Saturday 4 August.

Blake leads this year`s world rankings courtesy of his win over Bolt in Kingston in which the world champion finished first in a time of 9.75 seconds, 11 hundredths of a second faster than Bolt, who had to settle for being runner-up.

While there are concerns - and legitimate ones at that - about the hamstrings of Bolt, the world record holder has drifted out to odds at which he is worth taking a punt, with 8-11 freely available about the fastest man on the planet.

Bolt says that his hamstrings are fine and that he is ready to defend his Olympic men`s 100m crown. The bottom line is that the athletics star of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games will win in London if he brings his A-game. No-one, not even Blake, will be able to keep pace with him if he is on form.

For all of Bolt`s setbacks, he has two of the three fastest times in the world in 2012 and three of the fastest five, including a time of 9.76s into a slight headwind in Rome. Considering that Blake had the benefit of a strong tailwind when running 9.75s, one could argue that Bolt deserves to go into the London 2012 Olympic Games as the rankings leader.

Whereas Bolt represents good betting value in the London 2012 Olympic Games men`s 100m metres, there are some bad favourites in other athletics events either starting or finishing on the second day of track and field action.

Mo Farah will have the Olympic Stadium crowd behind him but the British long-distance runner is under the odds at around 11-8 to win the London 2012 Olympic Games men`s 10,000m.

Farah lost the corresponding race at last year`s World Championships because Ethiopia`s Ibrahim Jeilan, who failed to make his country`s London 2012 Olympic Games team, ran away from him down the final straight. The British athlete is suspect to a fast finisher and, in the shape of Kenya`s Kenenisa Bekele, he is up against one in his home city.

Kenenisa Bekele - not to be confused with his brother, Tariku Bekele - is available at around 10-3 to mount a successful defence of his Olympic Games men`s 10,000m title. There is no reason why Farah should be a warm favourite.

The betting market leaders for the London 2012 Olympic Games men`s 20 kilometres race walk and the women`s pole vault are false favourites also. Russia`s Valeriy Borchin may have dominated recent major championships but he was a distant 10th in Saransk three months ago and that result does not entitle him to 6-4 favouritism in the race walk event.

Picking the winner of the London 2012 Olympic Games men`s 20 kilometres race walk is difficult and disqualification is an ever-present threat. If you can lay Borchin on one of the betting exchanges, ideally at 6-4 or lower, that would be an excellent value play. Laying Borchin at 6-4 is effectively the same as backing the rest of the field at 4-6.

Elena Isinbaeva could bounce back to form and win the London 2012 Olympic Games women`s pole vault easily but one would want longer odds than the 15-8 that is available currently.

Four athletes have vaulted higher than Isinbaeva this year, with the London 2012 Olympic Games women`s pole vault value probably being in backing Silke Spiegelburg at around 13-2.

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02/08/2012     © Frixo 2024