Preview: Betting on the Summer Games 2
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The summer games roll on Tuesday with a lot of pool play and time trials. Swimming and cycling take place Tuesday and those cover the main time trial sports. The United States women’s soccer team has their match and so do the men’s and women’s beach volleyball teams in the opening round. It has been a little bit of a rough start for Team USA fans. Our men’s basketball team lost their first game in the last 25 at the summer games over the weekend. Our defending world cup champion women’s soccer team lost to arch-rival Sweden and now Gymnastics champion Simone Biles had to withdraw from the team portion of the gymnastics competition, causing the US to lose the gold to Russia after she did. Luckily, we have a lot of champions in this country and a few of them are still waiting for their one shining moment.
Who is the fastest man in the world?
This question is not as easy to answer as you might think. The track and field portion of the summer games has many events. The typical title of “world’s fastest man” normally goes to the guy who wins the 100-meter dash. It is the shortest race and the one where raw speed is rewarded the most. Team USA not only has the favorite in this race, but also the second favorite. The favorite is the fastest qualifier from the US trials: Trayvon Bromell. He ran the fastest time – 9.80 seconds – which was not even his personal best, meaning he could go faster in Tokyo. He is the favorite to win the gold medal at +110. The man who finished 0.05 seconds behind him in the US finals is Ronnie Baker, who ran a personal best that day, so he would either need to continue to take a step forward or hope that Bromell has a bad day to win. He is listed at +320 on Tipico Sportsbook. The next shortest odds belong to Andre De Grasse of Canada at +750. As you can see, the US is in a strong position to take at least one medal and a very strong position to take the gold. If things break right, Team USA could even end up sweeping medals, as Fred Kerley is the fifth shortest price to win the gold at +1,400. So we have three American men with legit chances to claim the title of world’s fastest man in the 100 meters. If you want to bet it, I like the idea of taking plus-money on Bromell, who is fresh off a win over two of his main rivals and countrymen in the US trials and is also rounding into shape for a step forward himself.
Some will argue that limiting the title of fastest man to the 100-meter dash is a mistake. Team USA also has the favorite for the men’s 200-meter dash as well, though: Noah Lyles. He’s an even bigger favorite to win the 200 meters than Bromell is to win the 100. Lyles is currently -160 on Tipico. Canadian Andre De Grasse, who is also in the 100, is the second shortest price on the board at +380, followed by another American in Kenneth Bednarek at +420. No one else is below +1,200, which also puts Team USA in a good position to win the gold and take home at least one medal, if not more, here. Lyles has a personal best time of 19.5 seconds in the 200-meter dash – the fourth-fastest time ever recorded. He has won numerous medals in the 100-, 200- and 300-meter races individually and as part of relay teams in the world games and u20 trials. If Lyles goes out and runs his best race, or close to it, he should be walking away with a shiny gold medal around his neck. Lyles is no slouch in the 100 meters either, running times in the 9.86 range more than once, which would put him right in line with some of the best sprinters in our country. As you can see from the odds and talk about the 100-meter dash above, being in that group is rarefied air as three of the top five medal chances in the 100 belong to fellow countrymen. Lyles, at -160, is being given a 61.5% chance of winning the race. That’s a short price for such a big field of competitors but definitely warranted.
I have already bet both men straight up to win their events, but the one-play payday bet for today is actually a parlay of the two. If you link Lyles' -160 price with Bromell at +110, the payout on a $100 bet is $373. That’s a nice chunk of change for taking the two favorites. We can argue all day long about whether winning the 100 or winning the 200 makes you the world’s fastest man, but as long as it’s a pair of Americans at the top of the chart, we will be too busy counting our winnings to care how that argument ends up.
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