Olympic Rowing Odds & Picks: Men’s and Women’s Coxless Pair & Lightweight Doubles Sculls Finals

• Thursday is a busy day in the water at the Tokyo Olympics, as medals will be handed out in both the Men’s and Women’s Coxless Pair and Lightweight Double Sculls Events
• Croatia’s Martin and Valent Sinkovic won gold at the 2016 Rio Games in Double Sculls, and are heavy favorites to finish first in Coxless Pair
• See odds, analysis and best bets below

Thursday at the Tokyo Olympics promises to be a busy day in the water, as plenty of medals are up for grabs. Both the Men’s and Women’s Coxless Pair and Lightweight Double Sculls events will be featured, but all eyes will be on the Sinkovic brothers from Croatia.

Men’s Coxless Pair Odds

Odds as of July 28th at DraftKings.

Martin and Valent are massive favorites in the Coxless Pair event, opening at -700 before the event started, and moving to -500 ahead of the final. The duo is undefeated in 2021, and are the reigning World and European Champions.

In addition to their Euro victory, they’ve also posted three convincing wins at World Cup races, and easily won their semifinal race by nearly 2 seconds.

FINALS 🙂 2000m = 6:15.63 (1)! #sinkovicbrothers #broTOkyo #rowing #Olympics #Tokyo2020

— Sinkovic Brothers (@SinkovicBros) July 28, 2021

The Sinkovic brothers won gold at the 2016 Rio Games in Double Sculls and are in a great position to win another gold, this time in pairs. The biggest threat is likely to come from Romania, who posted the fastest semifinal time, but Martin and Valent have yet to go full throttle.

Pick: Martin and Valent Sinkovic (-500)

Women’s Coxless Pair Odds

On the women’s side, New Zealand’s Grace Prendergast and Kerri Gowler set a new world record in the semifinal, just moments after Greece’s Maria Kyridou and Christina Ionna Bourbou had beaten the previous world record mark.

The Kiwis are the defending World Champs, but the reigning Olympic champs may be worth a wager. Helen Glover and Polly Swann from Great Britain captured the European Championships earlier this year, and finished just behind Greece to earn a spot in the final.

If you love the Olympics, this Helen Glover doc on BBC1 is insane. 3 kids under the age of 3, breast feeding twins between bench presses, deciding to train because she was bored in lockdown. Now she’s going to #Tokyo2020 #motherofallcomebacks

— Harry Wallop (@hwallop) July 19, 2021

Glover is the first mother to compete for the British Rowing team and is eying a gold medal for the third consecutive Olympic Games. The British duo had +500 odds to win before the event started, and remain a strong value ahead of the final.

Pick: Helen Glover & Polly Swann (+500)

Men’s Lightweight Double Sculls Odds

When it comes to the Men’s Lightweight Double Sculls division, the Irish team of Fintan McCarthy and Paul O’Donovan stand high above the rest. The duo are the reigning World Champions, and have won every race since the World Championships in 2019.

#Rowing

The Lightweight Men’s Double of Fintan McCarthy and Paul O’Donovan win their semi-final and move into the A Final in a WORLD BEST TIME of 6:05.33 pic.twitter.com/evEAtsEurt

— Team Ireland (@TeamIreland) July 28, 2021

They set a world and Olympic record in the semifinal posting a time of 6:05:33, which was 2 full seconds faster than anyone other team. Germany and Italy will likely pose the biggest threat, but we should expect nothing less than gold from McCarthy and O’Donovan, which will be Ireland’s first of the Tokyo Games.

Pick: Fintan McCarthy and Paul O’Donovan (-330)

Women’s Lightweight Double Sculls Odds

Five teams eclipsed the world record in the Women’s Lightweight Double Sculls semifinals, led by the Italian duo of Valentina Rodini and Federica Csearini. The Italians beat the mark previously held by the Netherlands by over 2 seconds, and are fresh off winning the European Championships.

Great Britain's lightweight women's double of Emily Craig and Imogen Grant have really put down a marker in beating France and the Netherlands in their semi. That's a new world best time of 06:41.99 – 2 sec better than Dutch set in June.

— Martin Gough (@martingough22) July 28, 2021

As strong as Italy looked on Wednesday, Great Britain may be the better bet. The duo of Emily Craig and Imogen Grant were the bronze medalists at the last World Championships, and won the second World Cup Race this season.

As for the Americans, Mary Reckford and Michelle Sechser posted the second fastest semifinal time and could be worth a sprinkle as a longshot. They won their final Olympic Qualification Regatta in May and have finished top-two in each of their past two qualifying races.

Pick: Emily Clarke and Imogen Grant (+250)