Best bets and predictions for day 13 of the 2024 Paris Olympics: Hall and Thiam tough challengers for KJT

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Best bets for day 13

Anna Hall to win heptathlon
1pt 4-1 bet365

Csaba Bohm to win men's modern pentathlon
1pt 13-10 bet365

Morocco to beat Egypt in men's football bronze-medal match
1pt 4-5 Coral, Ladbrokes

Benjamin Thomas to win men's omnium
1pt 4-1 Betfair, Paddy Power

USA men's basketball -16.5 vs Serbia
1pt 10-11 general

Already advised

Netherlands to win men's hockey (July 26)
1pt 7-2 Hills

Paris 2024 Olympics day 13 predictions

Athletics predictions

Starts 9.05am

Katarina Johnson-Thompson begins her bid for Olympic gold in the heptathlon on Thursday morning but she needs to turn around some poor form in this competition to do so. KJT won the World Championship in 2019 and 2023 but her Olympic form is 13th, sixth and withdrew injured, and this looks to be her last chance to put that right at the age of 31.

The 2018 and 2022 Commonwealth Games champion is 4-1 joint-second favourite in the betting but has plenty of viable rivals and odds-on Nafi Thiam of Belgium will be tough to beat as she targets a third successive Olympic gold. The defending champion has also posted the highest score so far this year and will look to her strength in the jumping events to land another gold.

Throws specialist Anouk Vetter of the Netherlands and improving Frenchwoman Auriana Lazraq-Khlass are others to consider, but the best bet could prove to be young American Anna Hall.

The 23-year-old has more potential to improve than some of her rivals and was just 20 points behind Johnson-Thompson in the 2023 World Championships (which Thiam missed due to an Achilles injury) despite not being fully fit. Hall won the US trials in June just five months after knee surgery and should be in even better shape now.

The United States are favourites in both sprint relays at 4-9 for the men's event (Great Britain 25-1) and 2-9 in the women's race, in which GB has a better medal chance at 8-1.

Modern pentathlon predictions

Starts 10am

Great Britain struck double gold in the modern pentathlon at the Tokyo Olympics but neither of the defending champions features in the top three of the market this time. Kate French is 13-2 to retain her crown in the women's event while Joe Choong is 6-1 in the men's competition.

Choong also won the 2022 and 2023 world titles but has been overtaken in the market by Hungary's Csaba Bohm, who broke the world record in his recent World Cup Final win and looks the man to beat.

French has competed only twice since her big day in Tokyo but is turning out again after taking an 18-month break from the sport, so it would be a fantastic story if she is back to her best.

Hockey predictions

Starts 1pm

Racing Post Sport's pre-tournament pick for the men's hockey, the Netherlands, have made it safely through to the final and are now 4-6 favourites from 7-2 at the outset as they prepare to take on Germany in Thursday's gold-medal match.

The Dutch lost 1-0 to the Germans in their only setback of the competition, but have looked imperious in the knockout stages, beating Australia 2-0 and Spain 4-0. They are capable of reversing the form against a team who have had tough battles against Argentina and India in their elimination matches, winning 3-2 each time.

Football predictions

Starts 4pm

Third-place matches at football tournaments are often non-events but the Olympics are the exception as the consolation match means the difference between a bronze medal and going home empty-handed.

It's an all-African affair in Nantes on Thursday night as Egypt take on Morocco and while Egypt have led a charmed life in the tournament, Morocco have had the stronger performances overall and look the right favourites to win inside 90 minutes. 

Egypt's group win over Spain came against an already-qualified team who had made ten changes and while they took France to extra-time in their semi-final they had previously needed penalties to get past Paraguay. 

Morocco blasted the United States 4-0 in their quarter-final and lost 2-1 to Spain to an 86th-minute goal in their semi.

Cycling predictions

Starts 4pm

All-round cycling skills, and a bit of luck, are needed to win the men's omnium event and France's Benjamin Thomas could give the home crowd plenty to cheer. 

Great Britain's Ethan Hayter, the 2021 and 2022 world champion, is the 100-30 favourite but Thomas, who won a stage on the Giro d'Italia this year and was world champion in 2017 and 2020, should not be far away and can be supported at 4-1.

Basketball predictions

Starts 4.30pm

The men's basketball tournament has reached the semi-final stage and that means a clash of NBA stars when LeBron James and Team USA meet a Serbia side led by Nikola Jokic.

The Americans won 110-84 when the teams met in the first match of the group stage and after crushing Brazil 122-87 in their quarter-final while Serbia beat Australia in overtime, they should be able to cover a 16.5-point handicap. Germany are 4.5-point favourites over Victor Wembanyama's France in the other semi-final.

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