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2020 Olympics betting: What you need to know to wager on the 100-meter races

You can bet on the two fastest races at the Olympics. BetMGM has odds available for both the men's and women's 100-meter races this weekend at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Here's everything you need to know — and the bets you make will take longer than the races themselves.

Women’s 100-meter dash

7:49 a.m. ET, July 31

Will a world record be set? (10.49 seconds, Florence Griffith-Joyner)

Yes (+700)

No (-2000)

The favorites

Shelly-Ann Fraser-Price, Jamaica (-135)

Elaine Thompson-Herah, Jamaica (+225)

Dina Asher-Smith, Great Britain (+600)

Shericka Jackson, Jamaica (+1200)

As you likely know, this race is being run without American Sha'Carri Richardson. She would have been a worthy challenger to Fraser-Price, who is going for her fourth 100-meter medal in the last four Olympics. She won gold in 2008 in Beijing and backed that up with another gold in 2012. She finished third at the Rio Olympics in 2016 as she got edged out by Thompson-Herah and the United States’ Tori Bowie.

Thompson-Herah also won the 200 at the 2016 Olympics. Her personal best of 10.70 seconds was set in 2016 and she ran a 10.71 earlier this month in Hungary to beat Fraser-Pryce. Asher-Smith’s personal best is 10.83 seconds and she set that in 2019. That’s a British record.

Jackson set a personal-best time of 10.77 this season and is one of the best all-around sprinters of this generation. She set a personal-best of 21.82 in the 200 earlier this year as well and also ran a 49.47 in the 400 in 2019. She only recently started regularly competing in the 100 meters.

Men’s 100-meter dash

7:45 a.m. ET, Aug. 1

Will a world record be set? (9.58 seconds, Usain Bolt)

Yes (+800)

No (-3000)

The favorites

Trayvon Bromell, USA (-125)

Ronnie Baker, USA (+500)

Akani Simbine, South Africa (+700)

Andre De Grasse, Canada (+1000)

Bromell enters as the favorite after recording a personal-best time of 9.77 seconds in early June as he’s returned to top-level sprinting form. Bromell was one of the best sprinters in the world in the mid-2010s but didn’t record a time below 10 seconds from 2017-19. He started his rebound in 2020 with a year-best of 9.90 and dropped that 13 hundredths in 2021.

His consistent speed this year makes him an even bigger favorite to finish in the top three. Bromell is -400 to score a medal and is one of three sprinters who have better than even odds to finish on the podium.

Baker’s personal best is a 9.85 and he set that later in June at the Olympic trials. His time was five-hundredths off the 9.80 that Bromell ran to win the event.

Simbine is the South African record holder with a 9.89 but he ran that in 2016. His best time this season is a 9.99 seconds. If you’re looking for a sleeper, DeGrasse could be your guy. His best time this year is a wind-aided 9.92 and he ran a wind-aided 9.69 in 2017.

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