Top Sportsbooks have released their odds for various swimming events that will take place at the upcoming Olympics.
In order to keep track of your bets, you’ll want to note that swimming at the Olympics begins on July 27. If you’re looking for more Paris Olympics value bets, check out the Men’s Olympic basketball odds: Will Serbia pull the upset on Team USA?
The first final will be on that date, but mainly preliminary races will be taking place until later in July and into August.
Let’s discuss the odds for some of the most interesting swimming events. There are high-profile matchups that should engage our attention, and we should think about how we might wager on the exciting action.
After talking about betting on swimming, we should try to answer a question that everybody is asking: is the Seine going to be safe to swim in?
* All the odds are available at BetOnline (check our BetOnline Review)
Men’s 50m Freestyle
- Cameron McEvoy -125
- Caeleb Dressel +250
- Ben Proud +350
Analysis
American bettors will be tempted to wager on the most heavily favored fellow countryman, which would be Dressel at +250.
The problem with Dressel is that he is simply not the same swimmer as he was in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics (in 2021).
Three years is a long time, and Dressel has declined significantly since that time period long ago. Mental health struggles have been among the issues that impaired his potential to perform.
Dressel’s decline is evident in his 50m times. His performance in the 50m at the Olympic Trials was inferior to what he did in this event in the 2021 Olympics.
For this upcoming competition, Cameron McEvoy is the deserved favorite.
McEvoy’s time at the Australian Olympic Trials is superior to what Dressel accomplished at his Trials.
Moreover, McEvoy has been the more consist sub-22 second finisher.
Men’s 800m Freestyle
- Daniel Wiffen +210
- Bobby Finke +250
- Samuel Short +250
Analysis
This event is intriguing for bettors because the favored competitor is enticingly priced at +210.
My issue with these odds is that the wrong swimmer is favored.
Finke is the dominant American distance runner, and this has been established for some time now.
All he needs to do is be close in the final meters, and he is sure to prevail.
The main reason why I like Finke is his recent form. His victory in this event at the Olympic Trials was excellent, as he achieved a time of 7:44.22.
Favorite Daniel Wiffen’s most recent times in this event have been worse than Finke’s by a clear margin.
Women’s 200m Freestyle
- Ariarne Titmus -120
- Mollie O’Callaghan +125
- Summer McIntosh +700
Analysis
The odds for this event stood out to me because they seem off.
I want to give all due respect to the favorite Ariarne Titmus.
But she should not be favored this heavily in this event. Therefore, I am contending that she is not worth investing in at this price.
Again, my point is not so much that Titmus deserves less respect as that her competitors deserve more respect.
At the Australian championships, Mollie O’Callaghan defeated Titmus in this event. She won that event in a time that she has proven capable of beating.
They’ve repeatedly proven to be very competitive with each other, with O’Callaghan’s natural speed being a supportive factor for her.
Given these considerations, the odds should be more like a coin flip.
Is The Seine Clean?
Now let’s talk about the Seine. This river in Paris is slated to be the place in which many different swimming-related events will take place.
The triathlon, for example, is supposed to have a swimming portion. This portion is supposed to happen in the Seine.
But officials have floated the possibility of scratching the swimming portion from the triathlon. Other events that are supposed to take place in the Seine might be relocated to a different venue.
These are real possibilities because the cleanliness of the Seine is far from a sure thing.
It’s really hard to answer the question, of whether the Seine is clean, in a definitive way because it depends on the day. On some days, the Seine is clean enough. On other days, it is not.
Let’s give credit to the French here: they’re trying really hard to make it clean. They’re spending over a billion dollars to create infrastructure that is supposed to keep the river clean.
This infrastructure represents a high-end technological effort aimed at tackling the major problems contributing to the lack of cleanliness of the river. Specifically, they want to keep wastewater out of the Seine.
In addition to these material efforts, the French are trying to create confidence in the Seine. The mayor of Paris, for example, can be seen swimming in the Seine.
However, all the shows of confidence in the world won’t suffice to eliminate the real and persistent problem of cleanliness.
The river might be too dirty, especially if heavy rains fall. One major health-related worry is the presence of dangerously high amounts of E. Coli colonies. No athlete is going to want to deal with that.
