2010 VANCOUVER WINTER OLYMPICS BETTING TIPS AND DAY ONE SCHEDULE

There is plenty of action kicking off on the opening day of the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games and you can rest assured that Bettingchoice is live and on location at the games bringing you the latest odds and exclusive tips for all the top competitions.
The February 13 Olympic Schedule has several qualification events, but there are also six medals up for grabs including the NH Individual Ski Jumping Final, the Men’s Downhill Skiing, the Men’s 5000m Speed Skating, Women’s 7.5km Sprint Biathlon. These events all happen earlier in the day while the really exciting rock and roll events are happening in the evening. The Men’s 1500m Short Track Speed Skating Finals are happening as well as the Ladies Moguls Freestyle Skiing Final. Piles of excitement and piles of beting opportunities.

Starting with the Men’s Downhill Skiing, Swiss favourite Didier Cuche posted the fastest time during warm-ups before fog ended the training session with 42 of 87 racers getting a go. This more or less proves that Cuche won’t be affected by his fractured thumb and he’s been listed by William Hill as the 7/2 favourite. As an interesting side note, Canadian Robbie Dixon posted the 2nd best time after Cuche and he trades at a colossal 17/1. If you’re looking to bet on Canada to put in a great first day shift I think that’s a great bet. If you think Cuche will take it but Dixon will push him all the way, he still trades at a rewarding price for a podium finish. You’ll find Robbie Dixon to finish top 3 as my main choice. Cuche to podium is odds-on at 4/5.
American Bode Miller is always a factor and he trades at 11/8 to podium and 6/1 to win gold.
The Normal Hill Men’s Ski Jumping looks like a tough competition between 11/4 Simon Ammann and 3/1 Gregor Schlierenzauer. They trade at 4/6 and 4/7 for a podium finish. Thomas Morgenstern and Anders Jacobson look contenders at 5/4 and 6/4 to finish top 3.
In the Men’s 5000m Speed Skating, we have the heavily-favoured Dutchman Sven Kramer listed at an odds-on price of 1/4. The Heerenveen-based sensation is miles ahead of the competition and it looks like it will take a serious mistake or a fall for him to get beaten. There is no podium betting on this market, just the outright result and the challengers look to be Havard Bokko (7/1) and Enrico Fabris (9/1) with Bob De Jong (10/1) and Americans Chad Hedrick (16/1) and Shani Davis (25/1) factoring into the equation.  
The Women’s 7.5km Spring Biathlon is one of those events for the purists with Magdalena Neuner listed at 15/8 to win and she’s a few steps ahead of the competition in terms of the odds. Her closest competitors, Helena Jonsson and Anna Carin Oloffson-Zidek (a four-name name!), are listed at 6/1 and 8/1 respectively. Neuner is odds-on at 4/9 to podium while Jonsson is listed at 6/5 and Anna Carin Olofsson-Zidek can be backed at a solid 7/4 to finish top 3.
Get ready for a Korean showdown in the Men’s 1500m short track- always one of my favourite events. The top three contenders hail from South Korea and Ho-Suk Lee looks the pick of the crop at a 5/4 price. Jung-Su Lee can be backed at 2/1 while Si-Bak Sung trades at a 7/2 price. American Anton Ohno is listed at 5/1 while Canadian Charles Hamelin can be backed at a solid 6/1 price.
Canada boasts a first-class chance to grab a gold medal on opening night with Olympic champion Jennifer Heil trading at a 6/4 price to come up trumps in the Women’s Freestyle Moguls. One of Canada’s higher-profile Olympians, Heil will be making a serious splash and could be a real feather in the host nations cap. Her closest competition is the American pair Hannah Kerney at 9/2 or Heather McPhie at 11/2.
If you’re betting Olympics winners at William Hill, you can put together accumulator bets and you’re not going to find that at every other site. If you’re looking to put together a nice ticket, my tip is Jennifer Heil x Didier Cuche x Magdalena Neuner at 31.34. Even though I enjoy short-track, I’m not having a punt as I think any of the top 3 can potentially win it. You can also back a Canadian accumulator of Robbie Dixon to podium x Jennifer Heil to win gold at 11.5. If you really want to push your bet, try Heil x Dixon (both to win) at 41.0.