There are five gold medals on offer on day 7 and in three of them, Men’s 200m, 800m and Decathlon, there is a chance of a World Record. For Australia the 4x00m men run in the heats.
The Gold Medal Events
Men’s Triple Jump
Christian Taylor from the USA is the current World Champion, has the two longest outdoor jumps this year, the best PB in the field and jumped the best in the qualifying rounds.
The only man who has beaten him this year, his team mate Will Claye, struggled in the qualifying round. Local favourite Phillips Idowu entered the competition under an injury cloud and was not able to proceed to the final.
It looked like Henry Frayne from Australia spent all his energy in the long jump and did not qualify. My tips are Taylor for gold, Claye for silver and Donata for bronze.
Men’s 800m
David Rudisha. I could end my review there. That is all you need to know.
He is the World Champion and basically two seconds better than anyone else in the field. There have even been some reports that he may try and break his own World Record, something unheard of in Championship races without pacemakers. And you know what, he just might.
That is because if he head off at near World Record pace, no one else in the field will come close to him. The only way he could get beaten is in a slow race. He will lead the pack down the back straight on the first lap and just run all the others off their legs. My tips are Rudisha for gold in an 1:42 Olympic Record but not the World Record, Kaki for silver and Amos for bronze.
Men’s 200m
This event may actually surpass the 100m at the highlight of the entire Olympics. Bolt has gone back to back in the 100m and if he wins the 200m he will be the first man ever to go back to back in the 200m, let alone both sprints.
His only real competition is his training partner and 100m silver medallist Yohan Blake. Last year out of nowhere Blake ran the second fastest 200m ever, and this year Blake is running faster in the 100m than he was in 2011.
In winning the 100m in the second fastest time in history Bolt has shown that his form before the Olympics was misleading and that he could challenge his World Record of 19.19. The two fastest men ever, both in the form of their lives, on a fast track.
Now if we can just pray for a 1.9m tail wind… My tips are Bolt for gold in World Record time, Blake for silver and Lemaitre for bronze.
Women’s Javelin
Those Commonwealth Bank adds were right, Australian girl Kim Mickle did need to look out for the Czech girl. Kim missed out on the final but Kathryn Mitchell just scrapped through. The Czech girls name is Barbora Špotáková, she is the World Record holder and has medalled in every Championship since 2006.
This year Sunette Viljoen from South Africa, the bronze medallist from Daegu, has emerged as the main challenger with the longest throw of the year and even beating Špotáková in one meet. However the Czech always lift when medals are on offer and she is my tip for gold, with Viljoen for silver and Obergföll for bronze.
Men’s Decathlon
The Decathlon finishes today and after four events Ashton Eaton has a very comfortable 160 point lead but is 50 points off his own World Record pace. Fellow countryman and two time World Champion Tree Hardee sits comfortably in second place and then there is a great battle going on for third place. It seems Eaton has the gold wrapped up but it will be tough for him to break the world record from here.
Australians in Action
The only Aussies in action on day 7 are the Men’s 4x00m relay team. They go in ranked 13th out of the sixteen teams and will need to run to their very best to make the final. Steve Solomon and Brendan Cole have both run personal bests at these Games and Tristan Thomas ran a season’s best so the boys are in form.
We have a good record in this event in recent time winning a bronze in the 2007 World Championships and silver at the 2004 Olympics.
I think the boys will lift and make the final but they can not afford to rest Solomon in the heats as if they do they may not make the final.
Tim Renowden
Expert
Solomon is a smart kid.
jameswm
Guest
That interviewer needs to have a long, hard look in the mirror. Steff might be a polariser, but to put him on the spot like that when he's just run a heat at the Olympics was unforgivable and totally inappropriate. Like Tim R, I'm not a huge fan of Steff, but I felt really sorry for him having to face those questions at that time (though Tim Steff's not that coherent at the best of times anyway). And in the circumstances, I thought Steff handled it pretty well. Steff acknowledged that he didn't run that well either. I didn't think he was trying to have a go at the others. Having said that, contrast how composed and diplomatic Steve Solomon was.
Aljay
Guest
I noticed that one of the guys, but not sure who, tried to pull him away from the camera, presumably because he had a sense of what Steffensen might say next. I didn't interpret it as a sign of support.
Tim Renowden
Expert
It was a shocking interview. Jones shouldn't have asked those questions while Steffensen was lactic to the eyeballs - he was never likely to be coherent. It was a stitch-up. And I'm not a huge fan of Steff, either. Offereins will be disappointed with his run, which unfortunately left BJ Cole stuck in horrible traffic and probably carved 10-15m off their position just from having to dodge runners finishing the 2nd leg. Joel Milburn must be punching walls at the moment. He had been in pretty good form leading into the Games, and he goes home without lifting a spike in anger. Shattering.
Cam Baker
Roar Rookie
5:55am AEST.
Cam Baker
Roar Rookie
Did you also notice that the guy who he was critisizing (presumably Offereins as he ran the slowest split) came up to Steffensen during the interview and put his arm round Steffensen.
Aljay
Guest
I just watched the 4x400m, including the interview with Jon Steffensen and was appalled. I have never seen an athlete critisize his teammates on camera like that when they are standing RIGHT THERE. I was especially intrigued when he said that he was a role-model. Ummm... to who? The sooner he retires and disappears into obscurity the better I say.
Colin N
Guest
Rudisha's just strolled the heats though, so I think he could be setting himself up for a crack of that World record.
Michael/Brisbane
Guest
What time is the Men's 200m AEST?
Roger the Alien
Guest
http://drugpolicycentral.com/bot/article/espn5915.htm At least 60% on drugs. BINGO
Dale Bickham
Guest
Lemaitre will run fast in final. Kaki looked very rusty in mens semi's and will struggle to go faster, but could he wrong. Rudisha is on fine form, wr is a possibility as track is very fast. But 3 rounds changes things, and said he will target in zurich.
Cam Baker
Roar Rookie
He does, but my 200m review was written before the semi finals of the 200m. Lemaitre did actually run his second fastest time ever in the race though. It more comes down to whether Spearmon can produce his for of 3 or 4 years ago. Spearmon has been out of sorts so far this year but at his best he is better than Lemaitre at his best.
Tim Renowden
Expert
Good overview, again Cam! I reckon you're probably spot on, but in the 200m I would put Wallace Spearmon ahead of Lemaitre, who ran a shocking bend in his semi and really had to put in some big ones to get close to Spearmon and Blake. The Frenchman's body language and facial expressions don't look great, and he just looks a bit flat for my liking.