The World Athletics Championships are under way in Doha and our Chris Hammer has picked out three bets to follow for the opening few days.
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World Athletics Championships Part One: Recommended bets
- 2pts Dina Asher Smith to win the 100m & 200m at 9/2
- 2pts Sifan Hassan to win the women's 10,000m at 5/4
- 1pt Adam Kszczot to win 800m at 20/1
- Click here for Sky Bet's athletics odds
At the start of the year, I was extremely bullish about Dina Asher-Smith's chances of winning the 2019 Sports Personality of the Year at 10/1, and duly tipped her up in our inaugural Secret Santa feature.
While I've already banked the winning betting slip that Gareth Jones gave to me in return (Wales to win the Six Nations Grand Slam!), he may as well rip his up thanks to Ben Stokes' intervention this summer.
However, this obviously doesn't change what Britain's sprint sensation can achieve in Doha over the coming 10 days or so and there's plenty of reasons to expect her making history - not just once, but twice.
Before we get onto her impressive form, momentum and signs that she's peaking at the perfect time, let's just take a minute to emphasise just how unprecedented her success would be.
Firstly, no British woman has ever become world or Olympic champion in either event and the closest the nation has ever come were silver medals in the 1948 London Games (Dorothy Manley in the 100m and Audrey Williamson in the 200m) and 1960 Olympics (Dorothy Hyman in the 200m).
The best a female sprinter has ever done in the world championship was the 200m bronze medal that Kathy Cook earned in the very first staging back in 1983.
No British man has ever won 200m gold in the Olympics or world championships either, so that obviously means a sprint double has yet to be achieved by anyone from this country.
We already know Asher-Smith doesn't buckle under the weight of history having won the European 100m, 200m and 4x100 titles last year and ended the year as the quickest woman on the planet over 200m and joint fastest over the blue ribband distance.
And how about this for a stat – the last time a British woman could say that was way back in 1922 when Mary Lines held the world record of 12.8 seconds!
How can a country of Britain's stature in world sport - with so, so many sporting females to celebrate - never have produced a woman who can run faster than anyone else in a straight line for 100m since 1922? Not that I'm simplifying the task of course, but hardly anyone alive on the planet existed when it last happened, let alone remembers it.
Even if she doesn't top the podium, it's highly likely she'll become the first British woman to win medals in two different individual events at the same championships.
(By the way, if you've started to get excited about the magnitude of Asher-Smith's potential success, she's around 20/1 for SPOTY now.)
So what about the crucial factor of 2019 form?
Asher-Smith followed up her history-making year with another impressive season, in which she recently won the 100m Diamond League final ahead of double Olympic and seven-time world champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, who beat her at the London Anniversary Games.
The 23-year-old's season's best time of 10.88 that night was the sixth time out of seven starts that she'd run under 11 seconds in 2019 and that's a better strike rate than the two above her in the 100m betting - 13/8 favourite Fraser-Pryce (eight from 12) and 15/8 chance Elaine Thompson (four from nine).
Momentum in the three-way rivalry is with her and in an event of such ridiculously small margins between first and eighth, that is clearly key.
This is not to underestimate Fraser-Pryce, who could become the oldest woman to win a sprint world title at 32 having previously clinched the 100m crowns in 2009, 2013 and 2015 as well as the 200m title six years ago, but Asher-Smith has the edge.
It goes without saying that to be the best in any sport - not least something an event pretty much everyone in the world is able to try - you need phenomenal dedication and determination to train through the pain barriers.
Two years ago in London she finished fourth in the 200m with a brilliant run, finishing just 0.07 seconds away from a bronze despite an injury-hit build-up after breaking her foot in February.
At 23, she's still young but now has experience behind her and a wise head on her shoulders.
"We have been preparing for a very, very long time. It has been painful," she said. "John Blackie (coach) has been testing me. When he tells me you are doing this today, I am like 'what!'. He's like 'I'm sure you can do it' and I'm like 'well you are, but what about me?'
"We have been preparing and that is why the decision to double up isn't one that I have taken lightly, it's not a flippant decision, it is something we have been working towards for the past two years."
The 200m, which takes place next week, is in theory a much safer bet, especially because her biggest rival Shaunae Miller-Uibo has opted to focus on the 400m instead and can't do both due to the tight scheduling.
Miller-Uibo, unbeaten this year, would have been clear favourite having blitzed the field, including Asher-Smith, in Zurich last month with a scoring time of 21.74 so her absence means the Brit heads the betting at 4/6.
Asher-Smith finished second ahead of Thompson in Zurich and also beat Fraser-Pryce over the distance in Birmingham despite again being runner-up to the brilliant Miller-Uibo.
All this considered, I'm going to advise taking the 9/2 for Asher-Smith to pull off the historic sprint double, which would then make Stokes sweat in the SPOTY betting. If he cares about that, of course.
Men's 100m
To say this race doesn't capture the imagination of recent years is one hell of an understatement.
Not only is this the first World Championship in the post-Usain Bolt era but it appears to be a shoot-out between two Americans that nobody wants to win - unless you've backed them of course.
On one hand we have the 'devil' we all know very well in defending champion and former drugs cheat Justin Gatlin, who silenced London two years ago by winning Bolt's final 100m, and on the other hand we have the 'devil' we don't know quite as well in Christian Coleman.
He hasn't got to know the drug testers very well either having missed them three times in the past 12 months yet has somehow been cleared to run by the US Anti-Doping Agency.
The 2017 bronze medalist is the fastest man in the world this year with a time of 9.81 and has won his last five races, including at the US trials, while he's broken 10 seconds on all but one of his six outings.
Coleman is the understandable 4/7 favourite ahead of 37-year-old Gatlin (4/1) but it's not been a vintage year for particularly quick times and with no major titles under his belt, we don't know if he can handle pressure as well as his main rival can.
Britain's hopes of a medal rest mainly with European champion Zharnel Hughes, who has run under 10 seconds on four occasions this season. Impressive, when you consider how few British sprinters have ever managed this once.
However his best times were back in July and his three outings in late August were around 10.15, so we better hope he hits a second peak if he's to medal in Doha, for which he's 7/4 to do.
Men's 800m
If you want to chase a big priced winner at these World Championships then first take a look at the men's 800m, where 11/8 favourite is Nijel Amos of Botswana is worth opposing.
The event concludes on Tuesday but with the heats and semi-finals taking place this weekend it might pay to get on early before any potential value disappears.
The silver medalist from that iconic London 2012 race - won by David Rudisha - could only finish fifth in 2017 and although he does have the fastest time in the world this year of 1:41.89, that was back in July and he was beaten into second by USA's Donavan Brazier in his last race in Zurich at the end of August.
It was Brazier's second Diamond League triumph of the season having also triumphed in Rome which means in total he's won three of his four finals this year, including the US trials that featured fellow world contender Clayton Murphy (12/1).
You can back Brazier at 11/4 but the wide open field also includes Ferguson Cheruiyot Rotich (13/2), who won the Anniversary Games in London but finished third in the Kenyan trials, Canada's Brandon McBride (8/1) and the dangerous Pole and two-time silver medalist Adam Kszckot (20/1).
The latter, who won indoor 800m gold in 2018, hasn't been in his best form this season in terms of times but if it ends up being one of those typically tactical finals then surely he can't be overlooked given his experience of the big occasion.
At 30-years-old, he's perhaps used his wisdom to save his best performances for the end of September.
Women's 10,000m
You'll need to scroll all the way down to 19th on the 2019 rankings for the women's longest track event before you get to the favourite for gold in Doha.
Sifan Hassan's time of 31:18.12 was her first ever competitive attempt at the 10k and Saturday night's race will be just her second.
The Netherlands star set the world record for a mile just a few weeks after her debut 10,000m in July and clearly boasts the necessary track speed to kill off her rivals in what you'd expect to be a tactical affair.
Just look how she turned on the speed to win the recent 5000m at the Diamond League in Brussels!
There are eight runners in the race who have posted quicker times - including the Ethiopian trio of Letesenbet Gidey (11/4), Netsanet Gudeta (16/1) and Senbere Teferi (18/1) - but you've got to bare in mind Hassan was hardly going all out on her debut and many feel she could make a mockery of a best price of 5/4.
Also keep your eye on Kenya's Hellen Obiri (11/2), who will be making her big debut in the event.
- Chris will be back on Monday with his preview and bets for pick of the next batch of action from Doha
Schedule for the Opening Weekend
Friday September 27
- 1430: Men's long jump qualification
- 1435: Men's 100m preliminary round
- 1440: Women's hammer qualification (Group A)
- 1510: Women's 800m heats
- 1530: Women's pole vault qualification
- 1605: Men's 100m heats
- 1610: Women's hammer qualification (Group B)
- 1640: Women's high jump qualification
- 1700: Women's 3000m steeplechase heats
- 1725: Men's triple jump qualification
- 1755: Men's 5000m heats
- 1830: Men's 400m hurdles heats
- 2200: Women's marathon
Saturday September 28
- 1415: Men's discus qualification (Group A)
- 1430: Women's 100m heats
- 1505: Men's 800m heats
- 1530: Men's pole vault qualification
- 1545: Men's discus qualification (Group B)
- 1605: Men's 400m hurdles semi-finals
- 1645: Men's 100m semi-finals
- 1715: Women's 800m semi-finals
- 1725: Women's hammer final
- 1800: Mixed 4x400m relay heats
- 1840: Men's long jump final
- 1910: Women's 10,000m final
- 2015: Men's 100m final
- 2130: Men's and women's 50km walk finals
Sunday September 29
- 1805: Men's 200m heats
- 1840: Women's pole vault final
- 1920: Women's 100m semi-finals
- 1945: Men's triple jump final
- 1955: Men's 800m semi-finals
- 2035: Mixed 4x400m final
- 2120: Women's 100m final
- 2130: Women's 20km walk final
Click here for full daily Schedule & Results
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