2010 VANCOUVER OLYMPICS 3000M WOMEN'S LONG TRACK SPEED SKATING ODDS

This afternoon sees a few different medal events kicking off and one of the most interesting is the Women's 3000M Long Track betting market at William Hill. We've got three or maybe four competitors with a genuine shot at winning, but the current odds-on favourite is an Olympic rookie and that could open things up for some of the chasing pack if she doesn't manage to perform on the day.

You can see why Martina Sablikova is considered the form candidate going into this competition. She has won golds on a regular basis in competitions all over the world for the past few years and the majority of those victories came at distances longer than 3000m. That gives me some confidence, but her payout at 4/7 is a little shorter than I'd like it to be. On odds that short I do like betting on contenders with proven Olympic experience, but how much good did that do me with Jennifer Heil?
Germany's Stephanie Beckert is the 2nd favourite at a lengthy 9/2 price. I love how her Wikipedia entry describes her career, "She started off as a figure skater, but wasn't good and didn't like it, so she switched to speed skating." Her specialty is supposedly the 5000m so it may do well to side with another candidate if you're looking for a longer-odds selection. 
Canadian Kristina Groves could be the one to end Canada's gold medal draught on home soil and she's trading at 11/2 to do so. She's had a solid record on the World Championship circuit and has put in some good fractions in terms of personal records. I think she is the one who can potentially unseat Sablikova, and she won Silver in Turin in the 1500m so I think she has likely been able to polish her 3000m game since then. 
Another Canadian, Cindy Klassen, took a gold in 1500M at Turin and nabbed bronze in this event and the 5000M. She's demonstrated top 3 acumen in virtually every distance and I think that with the right trip, she could come up trumps. Her personal record in 3000m is several seconds faster than Kristina Groves, so at 15/2, may not prove to be a bad choice either. 
Other notables include Irene Wust at 10/1, Daniela Ansschutz Thomas at 16/1, Clara Hughes at 20/1. Masako Hozumi trades at 40/1, alongside Diane Valkenburg. Maren Haugli, Brittany Schussler and Katrin Mattscherodt are all available at a 50/1 price while Jilleanne Rookard and Yekaterina LobySheva trade at 66/1.