Each day I’ll be doing a fairly extensive but “just the facts, ma’am” preview. For something a little more narrative, head on over to Flotrack.
Some notes: names in gold, silver or bronze are the medal position predicted by Track and Field News, and all times are Eastern. “Gamblers picks” are the top three by UK betting odds.
Remember, you can watch live online at NBCOlympics.com
You also want to follow the IAAF’s live blog, they do a fantastic job.
Scheduled TV Coverage
| NBC | 11:15-11:45am | Qualifying-round action in Track & Field includes the men’s 100m and 400m and women’s pole vault. |
| NBC | 1:30-2:00pm | More qualifying-round action in Track & Field. |
| NBC | 4:15-5:00pm | LIVE coverage of the men’s 10,000 meters final |
| MSNBC | 4:45-6:00pm | LIVE coverage of the men’s 20k Walk |
| NBC | 8:00pm-midnight | Swimming concludes with four finals, including the men’s and women’s medley relays. Plus the women’s 100m dash, the women’s springboard semifinal in Diving and Beach Volleyball. |
| NBC | 12:30-1:30am | Finals in the women’s discus, plus events in track Cycling. |
Today’s Events
Morning Session
5:00 AM Men’s 100 Meters preliminary round
This is the “scrub round”, in which most entrants are from small nations with only one athlete in the entire Olympic track and field competition. The majority have PRs above 11.00. If you find yourself gambling on this round, you probably need help.
5:05 AM Heptathlon Long Jump
There are two battles in the heptathlon. One is for gold, between Britain’s Jess Ennis and Russia’s Tatyana Chernova, and the other is for bronze, between six different athletes, including Team USA’s Hyleas Fountain and Canada’s Jessica Zelinka.
Ennis leads Chernova by 309 points, but she’s going to give a lot of that back today. How much? Based on past performance, she’ll give back anywhere from 200 to 250, so she appears safe. But disaster can always strike. If Chernova beats Ennis by 30cm in this event, then the Brit is fine. 40cm is beginning to stretch it; more than that starts going into disaster territory.
Chernova and Fountain are the best long jumpers of the medal contenders and Zelinka is the worst; Ennis, Dobrynska and Savitskaya are in the middle.
5:20 AM Women’s Pole Vault qualifying round
Qualifying format: top 12 to Monday’s final, with 4.60m or better doing so automatically
Start list
Key athletes in Group A: Jenn Suhr (USA), Yarisley Silva (CUB), Holly Bleasdale (GBR), Martina Strutz (GER)
Key athletes in Group B: Elena Isinbaeva (RUS) , Silke Spiegelburg (GER) , Fabiana Murer (BRA), Svetlana Feofanova (RUS), Jirina Ptácniková (CZE), Nikoléta Kiriakopoúlou (GRE), Becky Holliday (USA), Lacy Janson (USA), Mélanie Blouin (CAN)
5:35 AM Men’s 400 Meters heats
Qualifying format: top three in each heat plus three more by time qualify to tomorrow’s semifinals
Start list
The key issue is whether or not Merritt was seriously injured when he pulled up two weeks ago in Monaco.
Notables by heat…
Heat 1: Luguelín Santos (DOM), Oscar Pistorius (RSA)
Heat 2: Kirani James (GRN) , Daundre Barnaby (CAN)
Heat 3: Jonathan Borlée (BEL)
Heat 4: Bryshon Nellum (USA), Demetrius Pinder (BAH)
Heat 5: Tony McQuay (USA), Chris Brown (BAH)
Heat 6: LaShawn Merritt (USA)
Heat 7: Kévin Borlée (BEL), Martyn Rooney (GBR)
6:35 AM Women’s Steeplechase heats
Qualifying format: top four in each heat plus three more by time qualify to Monday’s final
Start list
Notables by heat…
Heat 1: Milcah Chemos Cheywa (KEN) , Gulnara Galkina (RUS), Etenesh Diro (ETH), Shalaya Kipp (USA)
Heat 2: Sofia Assefa (ETH) , Habiba Ghribi (TUN), Gülcan Mingir (TUR), Emma Coburn (USA)
Heat 3: Yuliya Zaripova (RUS) , Hiwot Ayalew (ETH), Mercy Wanjiku Njoroge (KEN), Bridgette Franek (USA)
6:40 AM Heptathlon Javelin Throw
Start list
This is the first of two groups, and represents the half of the competition with the lesser distances. The only real medal contender in this group is Canadian Jessica Zelinka.
7:30 AM Men’s 100 Meters heats
Start lists will be announced after the scrub preliminary round.
7:55 AM Heptathlon Javelin Throw
Start list
Russian Tatyana Chernova is by far the best javelin thrower among the medal contenders, and will eat into Jess Ennis’ lead. A good throw for Chernova is 53.00m and her PR is 54.49; a good throw for Ennis is 46.50 and her PR is 47.11. If Ennis still has a lead of 30 or more points after this event, she’ll have more or less sealed the gold medal.
Afternoon Session
12:00 PM Men’s 20km Walk
Defending World Cup Champion: Zhen Wang (CHN)
Defending World Champion: Valeriy Borchin (RUS)
Defending Olympic Champion: Valeriy Borchin (RUS)
2012 World Leader: Alex Schwazer (ITA)
Track and Field News’ Medal Picks: Valeriy Borchin (RUS), Zhen Wang (CHN), Andrey Krivov (RUS)
Gambler’s Medal Picks: Valeriy Borchin (RUS), Zhen Wang (CHN), Alex Schwazer (ITA)
TFN Preview | IAAF Preview | All-time Olympic stats
Start list
You can watch special coverage of this event on MSNBC at 4:15pm. Really. Drink on a yellow paddle, chug on red.
2:00 PM Men’s 400m Hurdles semifinals
Qualifying format: top two in each heat plus two more by time qualify to Monday’s final
Start list
Notables by heat…
Heat 1: Dai Greene (GBR) , Kerron Clement (USA), Felix Sánchez (DOM)
Heat 2: Javier Culson (PUR), Angelo Taylor (USA) , Omar Cisneros (CUB)
Heat 3: Michael Tinsley (USA), Amaechi Morton (NGR), Rhys Williams (GBR), Amaurys R. Valle (CUB)
2:30 PM Women’s Discus Throw final
Defending World Champion: Li Yanfeng (CHN)
Defending Olympic Champion: Stephanie Brown Trafton (USA)
2012 World Leader: Darya Pishchalnikova (RUS)
Track and Field News’ Medal Picks: Sandra Perković (CRO), Nadine Müller (GER), Li Yanfeng (CHN)
Gambler’s Medal Picks: Sandra Perković (CRO), Darya Pishchalnikova (RUS), Nadine Müller (GER)
TFN Preview | IAAF Preview | All-time Olympic stats
Start list
Despite Pishchalnikova’s big throws in Russia, Perković is the consensus pick for gold. Brown Trafton’s win four years ago was a massive upset, and those kinds of things can happen in this event.
2:35 PM Women’s 100 Meters semifinals
Qualifying format: top two in each heat plus two more by time qualify to the final, held later today
Start list
Notables by heat…
Heat 1: Carmelita Jeter (USA) , Veronica Campbell-Brown (JAM)
Heat 2: Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (JAM) , Kelly-Ann Baptiste (TRI), Allyson Felix (USA), Ivet Lalova (BUL)
Heat 3: Blessing Okagbare (NGR), Tianna Madison (USA), Kerron Stewart (JAM), Murielle Ahoure (CIV)
2:55 PM Men’s Long Jump final
Defending World Indoor Champion: Mauro Vinicius da Silva (BRA)
Defending World Champion: Dwight Phillips (USA) — not entered
Defending Olympic Champion: Irving Saladino (PAN) — did not qualify to final
2012 World Leader: Greg Rutherford (GBR)
Track and Field News’ Medal Picks: Mitchell Watt (AUS), Greg Rutherford (GBR), Sebastian Bayer (GER)
Gambler’s Medal Picks: Mitchell Watt (AUS), Greg Rutherford (GBR), Irving Saladino (PAN)
TFN Preview | IAAF Preview | All-time Olympic stats
Start list
This event is generally seen to be wide open. You can make a case to win for any of half a dozen or more athletes. Watt and Rutherford are the favorites, but da Silva won the World Indoor and looked good in qualifying, and America’s Marquise Goodwin looked just as good himself. Young Russian Aleksandr Menkov looked good in the qualifying round as well. The other Brit, Chris Tomlinson, is capable of popping one out there as well.
3:05 PM Women’s 400 Meters semifinals
Qualifying format: top two in each heat plus two more by time qualify to tomorrow’s final
Start list
Notables by heat…
Heat 1: Sanya Richards-Ross (USA) , Christine Ohuruogu (GBR), Yulia Gushchina (RUS), Rosemarie Whyte (JAM)
Heat 2: Amantle Montsho (BOT) , Francena McCorory (USA)
Heat 3: Antonina Krivoshapka (RUS) , Novlene Williams-Mills (JAM), Deedee Trotter (USA)
3:35 PM Heptathlon 800 Meters
This will be 80,000 Britons going bonkers, part one, because Jess Ennis will be running for gold here. She and rival Tatyana Chernova are more or less equals in this event, so neither can overcome a deficit of more than 20 or 30 points. As of right now, Ennis is in a commanding position, but weird things can and do happen.
We’re also looking at an extremely tight race for third, with as many as eight athletes in the hunt: Team USA’s Hyleas Fountain, Ukraine’s Natalya Dobrinska and Lyudmyla Yosipenko, Germans Jennifer Oeser and Lili Schwartzkopf, Lithuanian Austra Skujyte, Russian Kristina Savitskaya, and France’s Antoinette Nana Djimou.
4:15 PM Men’s 10,000 Meters final
Will be covered LIVE on NBC (Eastern time zone only)
Defending World Champion: Ibrahim Jeilan (ETH) — not entered
Defending Olympic Champion: Kenenisa Bekele (ETH)
2012 World Leader: Wilson Kiprop (KEN)
Track and Field News’ Medal Picks: Mo Farah (GBR), Kenenisa Bekele (ETH), Galen Rupp (USA)
Gambler’s Medal Picks: Mo Farah (GBR), Kenenisa Bekele (ETH), Tariku Bekele (ETH)
TFN Preview | IAAF Preview | All-time Olympic stats
Start list
This will be 80,000 Britons going bonkers, part two, as London native Mo Farah is one of the favorites to win gold. If Farah and Ennis both come through, expect singing in the streets (and yes, I mean that literally).
For the first time in pretty much forever, an American is expected to be in the mix for gold as well: Farah’s training mate, Galen Rupp. Looming large as an interloper is Ethiopian legend Kenenisa Bekele, finally back on the track after a long series of injury problems. Others expected to be in the mix are Kenenisa’s brother, Tariku Bekele, and Kenyan champion Wilson Kiprop.
While not expected to contend for medals, three other U.S.-based runners might be the equal of all the other Kenyans, Ethiopians, Eritreans and Ugandans. The Oregon Distance Project’s Dathan Ritzenhein has finally put together a long stretch of injury-free running and is reportedly doing very well in training. The Oregon Track Club’s Matt Tegenkamp has finished in the top ten in three out of his four trips to the Worlds and Olympics. Canada’s Cam Levins, recently at Southern Utah University, is untested in meets like this but was truly impressive during the outdoor collegiate season.
4:55 PM Women’s 100 Meters final
Defending World Indoor Champion (60 meters): Veronica Campbell-Brown (JAM)
Defending World Champion: Carmelita Jeter (USA)
Defending Olympic Champion: Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (JAM)
2012 World Leader: Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (JAM)
Track and Field News’ Medal Picks: Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (JAM), Carmelita Jeter (USA), Veronica Campbell-Brown (JAM)
Gambler’s Medal Picks: helly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (JAM), Carmelita Jeter (USA), Veronica Campbell-Brown (JAM)
TFN Preview | IAAF Preview | All-time Olympic stats
This is the first battle in the USA versus Jamaica war.
As of right now we don’t even know who the finalists will be, as the semis will be run some two hours and twenty minutes earlier. The combatants for the medals are expected to be Jamaica’s Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Veronica Campbell-Brown and Kerron Stewart, and America’s Carmelita Jeter, Tianna Madison and Allyson Felix. Interlopers could come in the form of Nigerian Blessing Okagbare (a Bowerman Award finalist while at UTEP) and Trinidad’s Kelly-Ann Baptiste (a two-time NCAA champion at LSU).
What we do know is that semifinals tell you a lot about what will happen in the final. In the 100, the gold medalist almost always wins her semi.