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Saturday athletics previews

I'll add to these throughout the day, so check back later for updates.

Women's High Jump

This event has lost its sparkle without Vlasic (injured) and Friedrich (DNQ, out of form this year) so it may not take an outstanding height ti claim gold. Chicherova sets the standard - current world champion and bronze medallist from Beijing. Her only blip outdoors was at the Crystal Palace Diamond League event which I'm prepared to forgive with the horrible weather that weekend. She has the two best outdoor jumps of the season (2.03 and 2.02) and recorded several 2m jumps during the indoor season as well (including 2.06m).

American Chaunte Lowe is the main danger, the market see this as a real two-horse race. Lowe has picked off four Diamond League events this season but has only cleared two metres sporadically - 3/10 competitions outdoors, 1/8 indoors in 2012 compared to Chicherova's 3/5 outdoors and 5/6 under a roof.

If there's one competitor to set a new personal best and pick up a medal, it might be Brigetta Barrett. The 21yo recently cracked 2m for the first time, the excitement of her first Olympics might put more spring in her step.

Can't see the favourite being beaten but in high jump, they should never be too short a price.

1pt Chicherova 1.8 BetVictor, BlueSq, Coral… (bet down to 1.75)

Men's Javelin

The odds-on favourite Vitezslav Vesely looks very tough to beat after throwing this year's longest throw, 88.34, with his only attempt in qualifying. Nobody else in the field has thrown within two metres of that in 2012. However, that is his PB surpassing a throw of 88.11 two months ago in Oslo. Apart from that, he is back in the mid-80m range. Can he be relied upon to do it again? History is full of athletes who hit great heights in qualifying but then come up short when the pressure is on.

Thorkildsen is the star of this event, he's going for three Olympic golds in a row, but he has had a string of injury problems this year. His second throw in qualifying was just off his best for the season. He's a big time thrower with numerous 90m+ throws - can he pull one out in the heat of the final?

The other interesting 'runner' for me is Pyatnytsya - seven of his top eight throws are this season, taking a couple of Diamond League wins along the way. Bet365 have him at 21 with other bookies as short as 9.

Not overly keen to get involved here, favourite not quite short enough to lay.

Men's 5000m

No real opinion on this, to top the Games off I'd like to see Mo Farah complete the double. It would leave the home nation with a real buzz.

Women's 800m

The conundrum which is Caster Semenya. The world champion of 2009 is in the red here against a quality field, is it all just down to the preliminary races? Her semi-final was fastest because the Kenyan Jepkosgei went out hard, almost three seconds faster than Jelimo's heat. It's not as if Semenya was running like Rudisha - set the pace and dominate. If the race is tactical, then anyone can win it.

Jelimo has beaten the South African hermaphrodite both times they have met this season. She hasn't been setting blistering times, preferring to do what she needed to do to reach the final. Savinova is the reigning world champion and won her semi-final comfortably as well.

Lay the favourite or back Jelimo? At 5.5 or even 6, I'll go with the Kenyan but I want to be against the favourite here - way too short.

1pt Jelimo 6 Sportingbet (bet down to 5)

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