Athletics / Editor / 27 July 2010 / Leave a comment Bet Now View Market

Athletics nut Bob Adams commences his European Athletics tipping with a look at the first day in Barcelona.

The 2010 European Athletics Championships begin with a whimper rather than a bang with a bewildering array of qualifying events ahead of the big finals later in the week. The afternoon fare is certainly better than the morning, and the qualifying rounds for the women's 800m are sure to attract plenty of British interest, with the likes of Jemma Simpson and Jenny Meadows favourites to progress. There are however a couple of intriguing finals for punters to get their teeth into.

First up is the women's shot put, a class event with practically all the top throwers in the world competing for gold. Compatriots Nadzeya Ostapchuk and Natallia Mikhnevich of Belarus have an extraordinary record in this event with world and European titles galore. These two class putters will have the rest of the field quaking with fear and it's altogether possible that Belarus could obtain a clean sweep with the form that Sydney Olympics gold medalist Yanina Karolchyk-Pravalinskaya has been displaying this year. Mix and match as you will, but Belarus for gold with Ostapchuk the most likely to top the podium.

Today's other final is the men's 10,000m and with all the Africans missing it is a unusual opportunity for Britain to challenge for a distance medal and not with one, but two athletes. The world rankings this year have Mo Farah and Chris Thompson well down the list, but with times under 27.30 these guys are the leading European distance men by some margin.

Local hope Ayad Lamdassem is 34 seconds behind the Brits and Frenchman Abdellatif Meftah even further adrift. A medal for Britain would be amazing, but two would give the British team a superb springboard. I'll take Farah and Thompson to make it a 1-2 with Farah for gold.