Athletics / Robin Adams / 19 August 2009 / Leave a comment

Bob Adams looks at odds ahead of two of the middle distance glamour finals - the men's 1500m and women's 800m.

"Augustine Kiprono Choge will be the main challenger to Kiprop in the 1500m final and at [12.0] in the Winner market he has to be backed for small stakes. Choge is certain to podium and I’ve also backed him at [2.72] to do just that."

Spectators around the globe are in for a treat tonight as we have two of the Blue Riband middle distance events to savour. The men's 1500m is the first of these exciting races and Kenya's Asbel Kiprop is the hot favourite to take the title. Kiprop's cramped odds [1.54] are not appealing, but I'm not going to lay him, as he certainly deserves to head the market. The Olympic silver medallist is chasing the middle distance double this week, but this race represents his best chance of topping the podium.

Fellow Kenyan, Augustine Kiprono Choge, will be the main challenger to Kiprop and at [12.0] in the Winner market he has to be backed for small stakes. Choge is certain to podium and I've also backed him at [2.72] to do just that. There are so many athletes around the 3.30 mark this year that finding the third podium finisher might not be easy, but I'll hang a small wager on the young Moroccan Abdelati Iguider [9.6] who is going to be a star in years to come.

Choge [5.8] and Iguider [22.0] are also interesting wagers in the Winner W/O Kiprop market and I'll hopefully be cleaning up with this one.

When Pamela Jelimo limped off track in the semi-finals, the women's 800m lost some of its lustre, as the pot was boiling nicely with Jelimo due to clash with the rather masculine South African Caster Semenya. Semenya has to undergo gender verification ahead of the final and if given the all-clear she will start as favourite. Despite her impressive times this season I feel Semenya is tactically naive and she could be susceptible to the finishing kick of Mariya Savinova [7.4] and Janeth Jepkosgei [11.0] and I've backed the pair to outkick the youngster.

Tags: Abdelati Iguider, Asbel Kiprop, Augustine Kiprono Choge, Caster Semenya, Janeth Jepkosgei, Kenya, Mariya Savinova, Men's 1500m, Women's 800m