No other Olympic sports go down to the wire as much as the Men’s 200m sprint and 100m sprint. Races that come down to fractions of a second. London 2012 will see fellow Jamaican Yohan Blake battle it out for the gold. Blake has been trending upwards with positive results at the Jamaican Olympic trials. Tyson Gay is also a reasonable contender and one with a psychological edge. This articles is courtesy of Pinnacle Sports and odds are subject to change as the Olympics progresses.
As reigning 200m Olympic champion and the fastest man on Earth, Usain Bolt will be looking to defend at London 2012. Bolt is favourite to win at 1.575*. Bolt won gold at the Beijing Olympics with a time of 19.30 secs which was the world record, until Bolt broke it himself a year later at the 2009 Athletics World Championships with a time of 19.19 secs.
Bolt’s training partner, Yohan Blake 2.800* may have started the year more brightly than Bolt, winning the Jamaican Olympic Trials, finishing the 200m in 19.80 secs, compared to Bolt’s time of 19.83 secs.
When Bolt won the 200m in 2008 the margin was by 0.66 secs. However the margin between Blake’s victory over Bolt at the Jamaican trials was wafer thin at 0.03 secs. The odds on whether the margin will be more than 0.09 secs at the 2012 Olympics is 1.926* either way.
Beyond Bolt and Blake, Wallace Spearmon is best priced at 2.490* to make the top 3 along with the two Jamaicans, the American won gold at the 2010 Continental Cup.
Another contender to win the Men’s 100m sprint is American Tyson Gay, who is offered at 7.440* to win in London. Gay remains the only sprinter to have defeated Usain Bolt in a final since Bolt made his first world record run in 2008.
Can Bolt beat his 200m World Record at London 2012?
The odds favour that a new 200m world record will not be set at 1.200*. This is despite the fact that a world record was set at the last Olympic games. Prior to this the last time a 200m world record was set, was at the 1996 Olympic games by Michael Johnson (co presenting TV on BBC).