One of the marquee events on the 2021 Tokyo Olympics schedule for Australian fans is the Swimming where Australia is a great chance to bring home a swag of gold, silver and bronze. Australia have put together a very strong squad of 35 swimmers with some blistering times set in the Australian Olympic trials in Adelaide recently.
2021 Tokyo Olympics: Swimming Preview & Betting Tips
Expectations are high for the Australian team, led by the likes of Kaylee McKeown, Ariarne Titmus, Kyle Chalmers and Emma McKeon who are all strong chances for gold.
Kaylee McKeown (pictured right) set a world record in the 100m backstroke in the trials and will enter the Olympics as the warm favourite ($1.72 at Bet365) in that event. The 100m backstroke event appears a race in three, with former world record holder Regan Smith from the US, and two-time world champion Kylie Masse from Canada as her main rivals. Smith is also the 200m backstroke world record holder, but missed out on qualifying for that event after finishing third in the US Olympic trials. Meanwhile McKeown has set world leading times in that event this year and is the overwhelming favourite for the 200m backstroke ($1.40 at Ladbrokes) with her main rival missing.
Ariarne Titmus is another set to become one of the golden girls of the Australian Olympic campaign. Titmus will compete in the 200m, 400m and 800m freestyle events where she was never threatened in the Australian Olympic trials and will clash head on with American superstar Katie Ledecky in one of the great head-to-head duels of this Olympics. Ledecky is a five-time Olympic gold medalist, but Titmus has been in scintillating form in the trials after posting the second fastest time in history for the 200m and 400m, the latter which was more than two seconds faster than Ledecky’s best this season. Titmus will go in as the favourite in the 200m ($1.50 at Ladbrokes) and the 400m ($1.60 at Ladbrokes) ahead of Ledecky, but it’s the American who is the overwhelming favourite in the long distance events. Staggeringly, Ledecky holds the 23 fastest times in the 800m in history ($1.25 at Ladbrokes), and the 10 fastest 1500m times in history ($1.20 at Ladbrokes). She's an absolute lock in those events.
While the Australian women probably offer our best chance at gold in the pool, there are a few men also in contention in Tokyo.
Elijah Winnington will be making his Olympics debut but is the favourite to win the 400m freestyle. It could potentially be a good start to the Olympics for Australia with this event on the first day of the swimming schedule, with Winnington ($1.95 at TAB) and fellow Aussie Jack McLoughlin ($4.00 at Ladbrokes) the two favourites in the event.
Zac Stubblety-Cook has put himself in contention in the 200m breaststroke event ($3.00 at TAB) after coming within 0.14 seconds of the world record in the trials. It will be a huge showdown with Russian superstar Anton Chupkov (pictured right) who has dominated in recent years. Stubblety-Cook has yet to win an international medal, so while we want to be parochial, the value you’re getting on the Russian ($3.00 at TAB) looks like one of the better value bets of the schedule.
Others to watch out for during the swimming schedule include American superstar Caeleb Dressel who will be hunting multiple gold in the sprints, British breastroker Adam Peaty in the 100m breaststroke, and Swedish butterfly star Sarah Sjostrom, however you won't get pretty betting odds on any of them as they are overhwelming favourites.
However the events that we’re most looking forward to are the relays where the Aussies are a great chance to land multiple gold medals. Our women’s 4x100m freestyle and 4x200m freestyle teams will be far too strong and are an easy multi banker. We’re also a strong chance in the women's medley relay and the $2.50 at TAB for a showdown with the US looks a nice price. On the men’s side our 4x200m freestyle team are the favourites and offering a nice price of $2.00 at Ladbrokes.
The 2021 Tokyo Olympics swimming schedule kicks off on Saturday July 24th, with the first medals awarded on Sunday July 25th.
