Women’s 200m could be set to be the event of the Tokyo Olympics

The Olympic games have now finally arrived and there is no doubting the huge anticipation for this incredible event to take place. It has been years in the making and for athletes and they have been training their entire lives for this occasion. The athletics is what gathers the most attention and this year is set to be no different and there are some incredible match-ups that divide opinion and none more so than in the Women’s 200m, which looks set to be the event of the entire Olympic games. UK bookies are starting to open up odds on the event, with five athletes at 4/1 or shorter, which just shows how open it is at this stage.

The general favourite for the event is Gabby Thomas, who is coming off the back of a very impressive victory in the 200m Final at the U.S Olympic trials. She has continued to set personal bests in all her recent starts and the 24 year old Harvard Graduate is now the favourite to improve further and win the Gold in Tokyo. Some people believe she is also the athlete to finally break the records set by Florence Griffith-Joyner from back in 1988 and it will be fascinating to see how she performs.

Two weeks ago, @ItsGabrielleT, the neurobiology major from Harvard who is getting her masters in epidemiology added Olympian to her resume. #TeamUSATF #JourneyToGoldpic.twitter.com/nUTjNTQ5eX

— USATF (@usatf) July 10, 2021

She appears to have three main contenders against her based on the betting, with two others just outside the top runners and these being both Shericka Jackson and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce. The main contenders include the likes of Shauna Miller-Uibo, Elaine Thompson and Dina Asher-Smith. The latter is coming off the back of winning the 200m World Championships with a dominant performance in 2019 and appears to have improved further. This has seen her recently produce a remarkable performance to smash the meeting record in Florence and she now heads to the Olympics with a major shot at a medal and even Gold in this event. The 25 year old is another athlete that we really do not know how good she could be, so it will be interesting to see how progresses through the rounds and it really does set up for a mouth-watering final, if all athletes can progress through as expected.

Elaine Thompson is of course entering as the defending champion and she appears to be coming back to form just at the right time, so will be expected to pose a major threat to the others in defending her title, as she also completed the sprint double in Rio back in 2016, with the 100m and 200m Gold’s.