8th August 2012

Women's 400m Hurdles Betting: Natalya Antyukh looks a very worthy favourite for the gold

Great Britain were hoping to have a medal chance in the final of the Women’s 400m hurdles in the Olympic Stadium on Wednesday night but sadly for the host nation Perri Shakes-Drayton couldn’t make the final but the eight women who have will all be looking to put their name into Olympic folklore by winning the gold medal. Russia’s Natalya Antyukh is the 8/11 favourite with Bodog.

Antyukh comes into this final off the back of the fastest time of the year in the semi final and is very much similar to the men’s winner Felix Sanchez in that regard. He had the world leading time in his semi final and followed it up to win the final and that is what Antyukh will be hoping to do here. It must be said though that her first round effort was way below par which might be a concern.

Antyukh was almost three quarters of a second ahead of the second favourite in the semi finals albeit in different semi finals of course. Demus went out very quickly in the first round and did so again in the semi final and given that she has drawn lane 7 with the main protagonists inside her in the final the world champion is probably going to have to go out hard in this final. That could see her set herself up to be a sitting duck.

There’s no doubt in my mind that Antyukh and Demus are the class acts in this field particularly with Shakes-Drayton and Melaine Walker not qualifying for this final and as long as Antyukh don’t have a brain failure on the big stage I would expect her to win the gold medal. She came in her as the number one in the world and maintained that form in the semi final and a repeat of her season’s effort will surely be too much for the rest of the field.

Back N.Antyukh to win Women’s 400m Hurdles for a 5/10 stake at 1.73 with Bodog