Hoy raring to go

Chris Hoy admits he is in peak physical condition for Tuesday’s men’s Olympic keirin event and is well rested after taking the team sprint Gold (Hoy 2/5 Gold Medal Winner – bet365).

The 36-year-old was part of the Team GB side to top the podium in the sprint but was not selected for the individual sprint, with Jason Kenny getting the nod.

But the Scot has one last chance for Olympic glory with Tuesday’s keirin and will be looking to bring the curtain down in spectacular fashion on what has been an incredible career at the Games.

Hoy is the current Keirin world champion, taking his fourth world title back in April and he is the man that everyone will fear in the race.

The Edinburgh-born star admits it has been a “luxury” to rest his body ahead of his final outing and confessed to feeling right at the top of his game heading into what will be his last event in the Olympics.

“The keirin is a very different event – physically the same, but tactically very different,” he said. “Anything can happen and I am confident that I have the best form of my life and it will take a good ride to beat me, but you never take anything for granted.”

Hoy has already won five Olympic gold medals and six medals overall but he has unfinished business and will want to end his Olympic career on a high to enter the stadium with two Golds around his neck during Sunday’s closing ceremony.

No stone left unturned for Farah

Great Britain long distance runner Mo Farah (6/5 10,000m Gold winner – bet365) has insisted he has left nothing to chance ahead of his 10,000m Final on Saturday night.

The 29-year-old is one of Team Great Britain’s top medal hopes and will run in both the 10,000m and the 5,000m at the London Games.

Farah (15/8 5,000m Gold winner – bet365) has been guilty of not doing his research on his opponents in the past, illustrated in the final of the World Championships when he was beaten in the final straight by Ethiopia’s Ibrahim Jeilan.

This time Farah has done his homework and believes he knows all the strengths of his opponents ahead of his first final of the Games in the 10,000m.

He said: “I won’t be surprised.

“Last year it was because I had never heard of Jeilan. I was thinking about (Imane) Merga and the rest of the guys.

“In that race I was beaten by the better man on the day. We have to do our homework and everything that we can. A lot of stuff happens in long-distance races. In the 100m, where someone’s the favourite it’s Usain Bolt and there is no-one else, it’s such a short distance. When he gets it right that’s it.”

Sotherton tips Ennis for gold

Former Olympic bronze medialist Kelly Sotherton believes heptahtlete Jessica Ennis’ (8/13 – Heptathlon outright with bet365) form is shaping up nicely ahead of this summer’s London Games.

Along with both Phillips Idowu and Mo Farrah (6/4 – men’s 5000m outright with bet365), the Sheffield born star is seen as one of Britain’s brightest hopes for a medal in the capital and has already proven herself on the international stage by winning the World Championships in 2009.

However, she has sometimes come unstuck in other events due to her lack or prowess in the throwing disciplines, but has made a massive improvement in 2012 and recently recorded a new personal best in the javelin.

Ennis also has an extra motivation going into the games, having missed out four years ago due to a stress fracture in her foot and former heptathlete Sotherton says the 26-year-old couldn’t have wished for better preparation ahead of the event.

“I don’t think she could have prepared any better,” Sotherton said. “She has nothing to worry about. She can just go and enjoy herself and think about that gold medal – but there are other contenders.”

“Jess is doing everything right to win the gold medal,” she added.

Bolt out to put on a show

Usain Bolt (4/6 favourite Men’s 100m with bet365) believes he will have the crowd on his side at this summer’s Olympics in London and is determined to put on a show as he looks to emulate his historic exploits of four years ago.

The 25-year-old amazed the world four years ago in Beijing when he claimed three Olympic titles – the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay – and set a new world record in each event.

If or how he is able to better that performance remains to be seen but Bolt is happy to be in the limelight and insists he will go all out to entertain the crowd.

“I’ve been waiting for this summer for four years so I’m going to enjoy every moment and put on a show for everybody around the world,” Bolt told Reuters.

“The Olympic Games is going to be a massive thing for me and I’m really looking forward to it. It is going to be bigger for me than for most people because there are a lot of Jamaican people living in London. I know they will be going crazy so I have to put on a show.”

Bolt did improve his individual world records at the World Championships in 2009, while he was part of the Jamaica team that set a new benchmark in the relay in 2011.

However, Bolt will not be going into the Olympic 100m as the reigning world champion as he false-started in Daegu last year, which allowed compatriot Yohan Blake (3/1 Olympics Men’s 100m – bet365) to take gold.

Trio face Stockholm Test

In One of the most anticipated races of the year, the three fastest men in history come head to head in Stockholm to battle for the gold medal. Usain Bolt, Tyson Gay and Asafa Powell all met in Berlin last year, when Bolt reduced his world record to an unbelievable 9.58 seconds. Gay broke the American record with a 9.71 run, which he later re-broke, and Powell took third with a 9.95 finish (Bolt 1/6f with bet365.com).

However, this year the race may be even closer. Powell has dominated, while his rivals have somewhat faded. Bolt was out for six weeks with an Achilles injury and is not at peak form and Gay is also not the runner he was after missing seven weeks with a hamstring injury.

Although Bolt is still the favourite, the last time he lost was to Powell on this same track. Combined with his injury, there is a possibility that the Jamaican could lose his unbeaten run of 14 races and come second.

Great Mo-ment in men’s 10,000m

Mo Farah (13/8 to win the 5000m with Stan James) secured Britain’s first gold medal of the European Championships by winning the men’s 10,000m in Barcelona.

The 27-year-old won his first-ever title and Britain’s first-ever gold in this race by beating fellow countryman Chris Thompson (10/1 to win the 5000m with Stan James), to make it a GB one-two finish.

The Somalia-born athlete finished in 28 minutes and 24.99 seconds for an emphatic victory.

The win tasted even sweeter as he had to settle for silver in Gothenburg, four years ago, when running in the 5,000m.

“To wait for four years after last time is not easy, I gave 100% then got beaten by a better man,” Farah told BBC Sport.

“This means so much to me. I had doubts in the winter when I thought it wasn’t right, and I had collapsed after a race.”

Farah battled throughout the race with Spain?s Ayad Lamdassem, but with two laps left, he sprinted and took control. Lamdassem, meanwhile, faded and was overtaken by Thompson and Italy?s bronze-medal winner Daniele Meucci.

Thompson and Meucci had their own battle for silver and crossed the line at the same time, but a photo finish revealed that Thompson finished 0.0002 of a second faster. This left him incredibly emotional, as he has battled with injuries since winning the 5,000m European Under-23 Championships gold seven years ago.

?Before the race it was a complete rollercoaster but this season has gone so well,? Thompson told BBC Sport. ?With 10 laps to go I hit my first sticky patch of the year, but when this man [Mo] ? who?s the best long distance runner we?ve ever had ? went to the front I thought ?I have to get through it?. To finish second to this guy is an absolute honour. This is my gold medal right here.?

London based Farah added that he was just happy to see months of hard work pay off in Barcelona and that he felt ?awesome?.

Bolt ready to turn screw on Powell

Sprinter Usain Bolt is confident he can beat this year’s fastest time of 9.82 seconds and defeat fellow Jamaican Asafa Powell (Bolt 1/6, Powell 7/2 Athletics – Match Ups with bet365) in Friday night’s 100m showdown in the Diamond League meeting in Paris.

The pair have yet to go head-to-head this year, but have both recorded the same fastest time going into the race. And Bolt, who has now fully recovered from an Achilles tendon injury, is looking to improve on that time he set in Lausanne last week and get closer to matching his world record time of 9.58 seconds.

“My goal will be not to lose this race. I plan to go 9.7secs. It should be a good race. Asafa is ready,” he said.

“Asafa has proven to be highly consistent this season, with a fair number of times close to the 9.8secs mark. He is waiting for me.

“With runners like Yohan Blake and Daniel Bailey (4/6 v Christophe Lemaitre 11/10 Match Ups with bet365) also taking part, I know the 100m will be a great race.”