The 2024 Paris Olympics starts on Friday, July 26th, with the official opening ceremony. However, betting on the many events that make up the Olympics is well underway.
Popular bookmaking site Bet365 Sport has devoted an entire section to its 2024 Paris Olympics betting coverage. This fantastic resource is a one-stop shop for placing bets on a huge choice of Olympic sporting events, from archery to weightlifting!
However, for many fans, the true essence of Olympic competition comes on the track and in the field.
So, in this article, we are going to focus on ten of the best 2024 Paris Olympics athletics bets. Focusing not just on the odds available, but the value of a particular bet too.
Top 10 Track & Field Betting Tips for the 2024 Paris Olympics
10. Men’s 100m – Noah Lyles (USA) – 2.87
Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson is the quickest man in the world this year, but Noah Lyles seems to be timing his preparation for Paris to perfection. He ran his fastest time of the season, 9.81 seconds in London in late July, into a headwind and was still just 0.04 seconds slower than Thompson. Ferdinand Omanyala and Oblique Seville cannot be discounted, but I expect Lyles to land the win as part of a famous sprint double. You can also back him for the 200m title if you so wish, but his dominance of that event is such that he is considerably shorter odds for gold in his preferred distance than the shorter sprint.
9. Women’s 100m – Sha’Carri Richardson (USA) – 1.60
After missing out on the last Olympics, Sha’Carri Richardson will want to make up for missing out last time with a gold here. She is comfortably the quickest woman in the world this year, clocking a time of 10.71 in the American Olympic team trials in Eugene. Julien Alfred, Shericka Jackson, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Melissa Jefferson are likely to be her main opponents, but she should be in a class of her own in the short sprint.
8. Women’s 200m – Gabrielle Thomas (USA) – 2.20
The fastest woman in the world over 200m this season and partly the reason Sha’Carri Richardson is focusing solely on the 100m, Gabrielle Thomas is the class act in a very competitive 200m field. Julien Alfred, Shericka Jacksom, McKenzie Long and Dina Asher-Smith are in amongst the medal prospects but Thomas should be the one standing on the highest step of the podium.
7. Men’s 400m Hurdles – Karsten Warholm (Norway) – 2.50
There was a time when Karsten Warholm would have been odds on. However, a slight drop off in form and the improving performances of American Rai Benjamin means the Norwegian starts the games as second-favourite. However, Warholm’s tenacity is incredible and he has the ability to turn those more recent losses to Benjamin into a win in Paris in the final.
6. Men’s 1500m – Josh Kerr (Great Britain) – 2.87
It has been a long time since Great Britain had a gold medallist in the 1500m in the Olympics. Seb Coe achieved back-to-back wins in 1980 and 1984 but Josh Kerr’s bronze in Tokyo was the first medal since Peter Elliott’s silver in Seoul in 1988. Kerr is back now to challenge the current gold medal winner Jakob Ingebrigtsen and although the Brit is second favourite, he is by far the closest challenger to the Norwegian and could cause an upset with a win here.
5. Women’s Pole Vault – Molly Caudery (Great Britain) 2.75
The rapid rise of Molly Caudery to World Indoor Champion in the Pole Vault has stunned many and the British star is now the second-favourite behind Nina Kennedy to repeat that success in Paris. The Australian is the current World Champion, but Caudery’s form in Glasgow is such that she has an outstanding chance of success here.
4. Men’s High Jump – Mutaz Essa Barshim (Qatar) – 3.25
Barshim is the current joint gold medal holder of the Olympic title alongside Italian Gianmarco Tamberini, with whom he shared Gold in Tokyo last time around. The Italian is the favourite to win another gold here, but Barshim’s vast experience and consistency makes him a great value bet, especially at those odds in what will likely be a closely fought contest. Improving New Zealander Hamish Kerr may well be a good outsider bet here at odds of 6.00.
3. Men’s Javelin – Neeraj Chopra (India) – 2.75
Arguably India’s most famous track and field athlete of all-time, the current Olympic Champion shocked many when throwing for 87.58m in Tokyo to claim gold at the last Olympics. Since then he has finished second and then first at successive World Champions and landed gold with a huge throw of 88.88m at the Asian Games. His rivalry with Julian Weber and Jakub Vadlejch will be a major part of who eventually lands the gold in the men’s javelin in Paris.
2. Women’s 1500m – Faith Kipyegon (Kenya) – 1.22
The 30-year-old Kenyan is searching for her third successive women’s 1500m title and while there are a number of competitors, including Laura Muir of Great Britain, none are really close to unseating the current Olympic superstar. What is incredible is that she not only landed the 1500m gold in Budapest at the 2023 World Championships, but doubled up to land the 5000m title too. Jess Hull, Gudaf Tsegay, Diribe Welteji, Sifan Hassan, Birke Haylom and Muir will likely be her challengers once again, but it would be a huge shock if Kipyegon does not become one of very few three-time gold medalists at the Olympics in the same event.
1.Men’s Pole Vault – Armand Duplantis (Sweden) – 1.03
The best and most likely winning bet at the Olympic Games this summer is to back the unrivalled Swedish pole vaulter Armand Duplantis to take gold in his discipline. Not since the days of legendary Ukrainian Sergei Bubka has a single athlete dominated this event. The 24-year-old is not just the current Olympic Champion, he is a 2x World Champion, 3 x Diamond League winner in his event, 3x European Champion, as well as breaking the world record an incredible eight times, moving it on to 6.24 meters in the 2024 Diamond League. He is, without doubt, the safest bet to win a gold medal at the Olympics and he may only need one vault to achieve that.