2020 Olympic Women’s 200m Final Odds, Preview & Best Bet

• The Olympics Women’s 200-meter gold medal race has a couple of favorites for Tuesday’s race including the battle between Gabby Price and Elaine Thompson-Herah
• Christine Mboma of Namibia presents the best value bet for the championship race
• Check out the odds, analysis, and betting predictions below

The women’s 200-meter dash is one of the more challenging events to predict in these Olympics. Now, the race for the gold medal begins at 8:50 am ET on Tuesday.

All events take place at Olympic Stadium in Tokyo. They will be live or streamed on NBC, NBCSN, NBC Olympics, and Peacock.

Here are the odds for the women’s 200-meter dash along with our best bet.

Women’s 200m Odds to Win Gold

All odds as of August 2nd at DraftKings

Gabby Thomas Qualifies, But Finishes Third in Semifinal Heat

The semifinal heats featured a jolt or two but the one that stuck out a little more came as a few of the slower times were from America. Gabby Thomas finished third in her heat with a time of 22.01 seconds yet she was alluded to in our preview as a possible favorite.

usatf: 👀 this is going to be an intense final. @ItsGabrielleT advances on time (22.01) 👏. #TeamUSATF pic.twitter.com/BrC5qQ0vlv

— Gerry Fleming (@GFleming) August 2, 2021

The problem with the Americans in contention was that they ran in slower heats except for Thomas. That second semifinal heat was the fastest by far. Elaine Thompson-Herah of Jamaica ran a 21.66 (personal and season-best) and Christine Mboma of Namibia ran a 21.97 to edge Thomas for second-place.

Then there was Jenna Prandini of the United States who did not qualify for the Final at all with a time of 22.57 seconds. Anavia Battle had one of her worst races of the season and could not even crack the 23-second barrier early Monday morning.

It has to be asked if Thomas’ inexperience hurt her a little bit. Beatrice Masilingi qualified in place of Prandini with a personal best of 22.4 seconds.

What Does This Mean for the Final

It is anyone’s guess what may happen in the final of the 200-meter race. Thompson-Herah was blazing fast in her heat and even looked like she had a tiny bit left to do it again on Tuesday. Mboma did as well while Gabby Thomas seemed to get caught a bit flat-footed against two of her adversaries.

You can see her inexperience in the rounds. Let’s hope she goes all out in the Final.

— YankeesPride⚾️ (@RPennington28) August 2, 2021

Again, runners sometimes forget the flow of a race and every one of the heats just seemed off when it came to speed except for the second one. The American definitely saw the pace of the first semifinal and maybe overthought her start. It almost cost her a spot for gold.

Thomas has the fastest time of recent note at 21.61 seconds. However, the world rankings list her 12th. Can she do this when everything is on the line? That remains a compelling question.

She is definitely not a favorite at this point and some will argue maybe not an automatic to win a silver. Thomas will have to show an extra gear on Tuesday.

Others to Watch and Best Bet

Marie-Josee Ta Lou of the Ivory Coast won her heat but had to run a season-best of 22.11 seconds to edge out Shaunie Miller-Uibo of the Bahamas. Miller-Uibo appeared to hold back a bit but then dashed toward the line. She nearly won that first heat. However, the one to watch for may still be Thomas. She is almost a long shot now at +1900.

When Odds drop, taking Elaine Thompson Herah
to win the 200. Just smoked everyone in the semis and slowed up.

— Conner Butler (@connerbutler6) August 2, 2021

Can Thompson-Herah do it again? Also, can Fraser-Pryce make it a 1-2 Jamaican sweep? Those are the big questions.

The hardest thing is to automatically discount Thomas because anything can happen. Look at what happened in the men’s 100 race as an example. Christine Mboma may very well medal based on her consistent performance in the heats. She just seems to get better in every race. However, Elaine Thompson-Herah is our pick for gold.

• The Pick:  Elaine Thompson-Herah (Jamaica at -650), Longshots:  Christine Mboma (Namibia at +2000), Gabby Thomas (Team USA at +1900)