Winter Olympics Betting: Day 11 - Tuesday February 23

Daily Bet / Tobias Gourlay / 23 February 2010 / Leave a comment

Kramer vs. Kramer: Only Sven Kramer can stop himself winning gold in the men's 10,000m speed skating today.

Tobias Gourlay advises caution if approaching Team Finland in the near future.

Bet of the Day: Back Ivan Skobrev at [2.9] to be Top Three in Men’s 10,000m Speed Skating

Finland, our hopes for a medal in the men's ski jumping team event, finished fourth yesterday, beaten only narrowly to bronze by Norway. Anyone who's ever seen an Aki Kaurismaki film will know that Finns can react to disappointment in unorthodox ways. They are probably best avoided in the Olympic village for the next couple of days.

But perhaps they might console themselves watching one of the exciting events taking place today. The men successfully debuted ski cross at the Olympics a couple of days ago; it's the women's turn at 2200 GMT today. This column had its fingers burned by snowboard cross last week and doesn't now bet on the helter-skelter events. Giant slalom (1730 GMT) has a long history, of which the latest chapter might be written by triple Vancouver medallist Bode Miller. Except he's got an ankle injury and the GS will be pretty hard on that. Today's surest bet is probably Sven Kramer to win the men's 10,000m speed skating ([1.27]). He's paired with Ivan Skobrev and is so far ahead of everyone else he might pull the Russian, who won bronze in the 5,000m, to another minor medal of his own.

Finally, Jeret Peterson news: Speedy qualified comfortably for the final of the men's aerials yesterday without attempting the Hurricane. His chances of gold improved when Anton Kushnir of Belarus, winner of four World Cup events this season and the leader after one round of qualification, fell on his second jump and was eliminated. The reigning champion, China's Han Xiaopeng, also fell and failed to make the final.

Tags: Betfair Winter Olympics Daily Bet, Ivan Skobrev, Jeret Peterson, Speed Skating, Sven Kramer, Tobias Gourlay, Vancouver 2010 Tips, Winter Olympics 2010 Betting