Tokyo Olympics: Men's 3000m Steeplechase Odds

A Moroccan athlete being listed as the pre-competition favourites is a huge surprise in an event like the Steeplechase, but Soufiane El Bakkali is as good, if not better than, the current crop of Kenyan runners, the nation which usually dominates this event.

El Bakkali has the most pedigree among the favourites. After taking an unlucky fourth spot at the Rio Olympics, he has medalled in all five major meets since, including a silver and a bronze in the 2017 and 2019 World Championships. He was the former world number one but he has since fallen to second, however he remains the outright favourite.

He recorded a world-leading time in a Diamond League meeting in Rome at the start of June, helping to consolidate his tag as favourite at odds of 13/8 to take gold.

Getnet Wale is hoping to be part of the Ethiopian contingent who end the Kenyan domination of this event and despite being just 21 years of age, he has a lot of experience in major meets.

After winning the gold medal at the U-20’s World Championships just days after his 16th birthday in 2016, he then went on to record ninth and fourth place finishes at the professional Worlds in 2017 and 2019. The African Championships are extremely competitive for middle and long-distance runners and Wale has taken bronze and silver in the last two editions of it, competing against the best from Kenya, Uganda, Morocco and his Ethiopian compatriots.

Wale is highly fancied to take another medal here on the biggest stage of all at 2/5, while the Ethiopian is 9/4 to take gold.

The most fancied of the usually dominant Kenyan athletes at Tokyo 2020 is Abraham Kibiwot and after pulling out of the Kenyan Olympic trials in 2016 with injury, he has qualified this time around.

Kibiwot was the African Junior Champion in 2015 before taking a bronze medal in the pro meet a year later, but his most high-profile achievement was being part of the Kenyan 1-2-3 which took a clean sweep of the podium in this event at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, claiming silver.

The reigning Olympic champion Conseslus Kipruto was the main who edged him out to the gold medal on the Gold Coast, but Kipruto failed to qualify behind Kibiwot in the Kenyan trials, which proves how strong the Kenyan contingent is, including Kibiwot. He is 6/1 to take the gold medal in Tokyo.

Despite being one of the youngest men in the field at just 18, Bikila Tadese Takele of Ethiopia is one of the favourites for the Steeplechase in Tokyo. He has next to no major experience but won the Ethiopian trials for these Games, before coming second to El Bakkali when he set his world-leading time in Rome last month.

His only other Diamond League meeting was in Monaco three weeks ago where he finished in eighth meaning he is an unknown prodigy but to win the Ethiopian trials proved there is obvious talent there. He and Wale will look to bring home some medals for their nation in this event where, remarkably, they have only ever won one Olympic medal, a bronze for Eshetu Tura in 1980.

However, with defending champion Kipruto and Mahiedine Mekhissi-Benabbad who took home a medal from the last three Olympic finals both not here, that could leave the door open. Takele is 13/2 to take gold and 13/8 for a medal.

Along with his Kenyan running-mate Kibiwot, Leonard Kipkemoi Bett will be carrying the burden of expectation in what has colloquially become known as ‘Kenya’s Race’ as they have taken home 18 medals from the previous nine Olympic finals and 30 medals from the last 15 Worlds, dating back to the mid-1980s.

His only past major meet saw him finish ninth at the Worlds in Doha in 2019, but qualifying from the Kenyan trials shows his ability and justifies his place among the favourites to take gold.

With the recent Kenyan domination of the event, 9/1 is good value for Bett, while he is 7/4 to take a medal of any colour.