- Xin Xin won the gold medal in the 10km swim at the 2019 FINA World Championships.
- She finished 9-10ths of a second ahead of American Haley Anderson.
- Xin has +250 odds to win the Olympic 10km, while Anderson has +500 odds.
TOKYO - Xin Xin is an Olympic veteran. The Chinese swimmer is competing in her third Olympics, after qualifying for the 2012 Olympics in the 800m Freestyle at 15 years old. However, in 2012, her age worked against her, and she was unable to make it to the final, falling to 24th in the heats.
In 2016, she improved on her 2012 performance after a switch from the 800m Freestyle to the 10km Marathon. She finished in fourth place, just outside of medaling, and has since improved even beyond that, winning gold at the 2019 FINA World Championships in Gwangju.
This made her China’s first World Champion in this event, which has never been a strength of the Chinese Olympic team.
The online sportsbooks, seeing her excellent performance at the World Championships, have deemed her the favorite. In that race, she finished nearly a full second ahead of her closest competitor, Haley Anderson of the United States.
Tokyo 2021 - Women’s 10km Marathon Swimming
- Xin Xin +250
- Ana Marcela Cunha +500
- Haley Anderson +500
- Rachele Bruni +600
- Sharon Van Rouwendaal +600
- Lara Grangeon +1200
- Finnia Wunram +1400
- Kareena Lee +1400
- Leonie Beck +1400
- Anna Olasz +1600
- Paula Ruiz +2000
- Alice Dearing +2500
- Kate Sanderson +2500
Xin and Anderson will have company at the front of the pack, however, in the form of Ana Marcela Cunha, one of the most awarded athletes in the 10m Marathon event.
In fact, she’s Brazil’s most awarded female athlete, having won five World Championships over her long career, and medaled in seven further World Championships.
Cunha is the most decorated athlete in the field, and was on a tear in 2019, winning five of the nine events in the 2019 FINA Marathon Swim World Series. She also racked up two silver medals during that competition, and notably beat out Xin Xin in Chun'an.
For Cunha, the question is whether her dominance can hold up after the COVID-19 pandemic.
The favorite, on the other hand, has a career that lends itself to a story of relative inconsistency - immensely high highs and devastatingly low lows.
While Cunha will face the obstacle of age, Xin will face the obstacle of performance level. At the 2019 World Championships, her time was 1:54:47.20. A time that fast would have earned an Olympic gold in 2016, 2012 and 2008.
The only question for Xin is whether or not she can reach that level of performance in the Olympics - every second matters, as was demonstrated in Gwangju, when Anderson finished only 9/10ths of a second behind her.
Anderson’s time would also have been good for gold at any of those Olympic races, and the competition level in this event has never been higher.
Online gambling fans are in for a great one with this swimming event, and should keep an eye on it when it kicks off on Tuesday.