Triple Jump Mens - Triple Jump v Special Bet

18 August 2008

Preview By Tipster CYellow (England)

As usual the British press are guilty of awarding gold medals before they have been won and this is the case in the mens triple jump.

Now to be fair its not hard to see why after all Phillips Idowu is unbeaten this year and boasts the 3 longest jumps of 2008. However i think there are good reasons to oppose the favourite.

Phillips has been labled as an inconsistent jumper but he will argue he has just had an injury blighted career and has long been in the shadow of world record holder Jonathon Edwards.

I still suspect his temprement despite him being the Commonwealth champion and European & World indoor champion. In British athletics the big 3 are the Olympic Games, World Outdoor Championships and European Outdoor Championships. Not a lot of credit is given to indoor titles as they are often early in the season.

The fact is that Phillips has no medals in Olympics, Worlds or Europeans outdoors. He goes into this race knowing everyone expects him to win. How he handles this pressure will be one of the keys to this bet. Its not a position he is used to and in a technical event like triple jump any tension will just see him fail to reach 17.50+

The other reason i want to oppose him is that while he does have the longest 3 jumps of 2008 he does not enjoy a dominant position at the head of that leaderboard. There is a stack of athletes withing 15cm of him and all are more than capable of putting in a big leap and yet more pressure on him.

In the absence of any actual bets on Phillips not to win i am going to back 3 athletes and hope one of them is good enough to take gold.

The athletes chosen are:

Arnie David Girat (Cuba) @ 8.0 (Ladbrokes)

Randy Lewis (Cuba) @ 9.0 (Blue Square)

Alexis Copello (Grenada) @ 26.0 (Sporting Odds)

Cuba have a rich history in the jumping events and Girat and Lewis have both jumped 17.49+ this year which puts them within 8cms of Idowu's world leading mark. They also have 17.40+ jumps to backup their status as medal contenders. They both have a very live chance at winning this.

Copello is just a total longshot i have a hunch about. I like to back athletes coming into a major event on the back of a PB and Copello leapt out to 17m50 just a few weeks ago in La Habana. At 23 years old he could do anything in Beijing. In truth you could make a case for most of the field having the ability to put in an enormous jump and it would be impossible for me to argue with you.

Phillips Idowu starts favourite and rightly so but he looks vulnerable to me. As a big fan of UK Athletics i hope i am wrong but i have to oppose my countryman.

Suggested Staking plan:

Arnie David Girat (Cuba) 2.73 points @ 8.0 (Ladbrokes)

Randy Lewis (Cuba) @ 2.43 points @ 9.0 (Blue Square)

Alexis Copello (Grenada) 0.84 points @ 26.0 (Sporting Odds)

6 points staked, all bets return 21.85 points.