After tipping the winners of both the men’s and women’s Olympic triathlons, at 13/2 and 6/1 respectively, Joe Townsend returns with best bets for the inaugural mixed team relay at Tokyo 2020.
Tokyo 2020 betting tips: Triathlon mixed team relay
1pt Great Britain, France and USA all to medal at 13/8 (Sky Bet)
So far so good in the triathlon in Tokyo, both for Team GB – who have silver medals courtesy of Alex Yee and Georgia Taylor-Brown – and for Sporting Life followers, who have plenty of profit banked courtesy of Yee, men’s champion Kristian Blummenfelt and women’s gold medallist Flora Duffy.
There has been no shortage of excitement. Yee looked poised to win GB’s first gold of the Games only for Blummenfelt to power home in the closing stages, before the real drama took hold on Tuesday.
Taylor-Brown suffered a puncture on the final lap of the bike stage in wet, treacherous conditions, and somehow managed to survive to transition with her back tyre hanging off the wheel, losing only 22 seconds to the lead pack that she had been a part of.
Tokyo 2020: Triathlon mixed team relay
Start time: 23:30 BST, Friday
TV channel: BBC
The world champion then roared back from fifth place to take the runners-up spot, and Team GB’s best ever finish in the women’s triathlon at an Olympic Games. Only post-race would she admit that the reason she hadn’t raced all season was because she had barely been able to run, and had been on crutches until 12 weeks ago.
So when on Saturday (Friday night UK time) the mixed team relay makes its Olympic bow, 21 years after triathlon first entered the Games, it will take something truly special to top that storyline.
What is triathlon mixed team relay?
- Four athletes race
- Female-male-female-male order
- Each compete in a ‘super sprint’ triathlon
- Super sprint = 300m swim, 6.8km bike and 2km run
- Individual Olympic distance = 1500m swim, 40km bike, 10km run
Who will win gold?
Barring complete catastrophe, we should see another medal added to the British tally – and it probably ought to be gold.
As the only country to be taking two medallists in to the team competition from the individual events, that in itself would be enough to put GB among the favourites to win.
When the quartet will be completed by triathlon legend Jonathan Brownlee, who rediscovered his form to finish fifth on Monday, and Jess Learmonth, among the strongest swim-bikers in the sport and someone who will be keen to make amends for her ninth-placed in the individual, opposing Great Britain feels a little fanciful.
They have the added option of Sophie Coldwell, one of the best triathlon sprint athletes on the circuit, to switch in should team bosses desire, too.
What is for certain, though, is that Team GB won’t have it all their own way, with France expected to push them close.
They may not have pulled up any trees in the men’s event, but 2019 world champion Vincent Luis and team-mate Dorian Coninx are superb athletes, and will be joined by Leonie Periault following her impressive fifth-place finish in the women’s race, and strong runner Cassandre Beaugrand, who we can only assume pulled out after the swim on Tuesday to save herself for this.
Oh, and France were crowned mixed team relay world champions in 2018, 2019 and 2020.
It really doesn’t feel far off a 50/50 call, with below-par performances on both sides – Luis and Learmonth – only adding to the lack of clarity.
On that basis, with the British quartet generally a shade of odds-on but France 6/4, opposing Team GB is the smarter play if you do choose to go down this avenue. The 6/5 best price about GB with Sky Bet is certainly a tempter for the patriotic punter though.
But my advice would be to swerve this market.
Overcoming adversity 🥈
— Team GB (@TeamGB) July 27, 2021
From an almost catastrophic puncture to a silver medal.
What a peformance from @georgiatb #TeamGB pic.twitter.com/WMRYSs1lry
Who will win the medals?
The only moderately credible threat to GB and France is the USA, but the jump up to 9/2 fairly reflects the gap in class. They are unlikely to challenge for gold.
But the US will be strong, spearheaded by women’s silver medallist Katie Zaferes and a fresh Morgan Pearson, who preserved energy in the men’s race after an issue-strewn day, which included a time penalty.
Quite frankly, no single selection appeals in the 'to medal' market, but the Sporting Life boost provided by Sky Bet does eke out us some value at 13/8 if we combine GB, FRANCE, USA ALL TO MEDAL.
The implied probability of 38% suggested by those odds is grounds for opportunity. These three teams are by far and away the strongest trio.
At last year’s World Championships, France, USA and GB were locked together right up until the final run, before Coninx dropped Yee, and then Pearson to secure gold. No other team was in sight.
Go back two years to the test event on this very course, and it was the same trio on the podium. A year further and Australia muscled into second, with a much-weakened GB edged into fourth.
Travel restrictions meant there was no Australia team at last year's World Championships, and they are priced as the most likely disruptors to the status quo. But at 11/10, and with their lack of any star athletes, it does not feel a price worth taking.
Any multiple carries obvious pitfalls, and for that reason it's not one to throw the kitchen sink at. But backing a predictable race to go close to the way we expect, at a healthy odds-against, is certainly worth getting behind.
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