Updated: 2025
Betting on Athletics, In-depth Guide
Athletics Betting Strategy And Tips
Betting on athletics has never been very popular with online bettors. One of the main reasons is that athletic events are pretty rare compared to other sports. While it has vastly increased in popularity and number of events in the last decades, athletics betting odds are still few and far between. Most bettors are used to having choices every day, but in athletics, these may come every year.
Even so, betting on athletics has its peak times, particularly every four years at the Summer Olympics when it reaches its climax. The most popular event in the Olympics is the 100-meter sprint race. After all, nearly everybody wants to know who the fastest man in the world is. Comparatively, the most popular betting market, football, barely makes it in the top 10 most popular sports at the Olympics.
Major athletic events are exciting and fun to watch. They are also betting opportunities to turn that excitement and fun into profit. To do so, one must have a betting strategy and keep in mind some athletics betting tips:
- Familiarise yourself with the top contenders – take some time and do some research on the top contenders in an event. Don’t go into blind betting just based on odds. Instead, use the odds from various bookies to determine who the top contenders are but also some of the athletes with an outside shot of winning. Take it a step further, look at athletes’ recent performances and check their social media profiles. Social media is very powerful in terms of betting on athletics, it gives you live updates from the athlete: injury reports, confidence level and much more.
- Understand the events – betting on athletics is not available on a daily basis, but when available it offers a huge selection. It is important to understand what you bet on, not just who you bet on. Each athletic event has its own distance, height or time to beat. A bettor should understand the rules and regulation of the many athletic events in order to make it profitable. For example, track and field is the most popular athletics betting market, but even it divides into 3 main events: track, field, and combined. The 100m sprint is just one of the many track events in the track and field discipline of athletics, such as the 200m, 400m, 1500m race and others. There are six disciplines in athletics, each with its various events:
- Track and field
- Road running
- Race walking
- Cross country running
- Mountain running
- Trail running
- Where does the event take place? – When you decide on an event or athlete to bet on, you should learn about the conditions surrounding the event. Look at the layout of a venue, the facilities it offers and what the weather conditions will be at the time of the event.
- Where to bet? – Once you have shortlisted the events or athletes you wish to bet on, it’s time to take it to a reputable bookmaker. There are numerous online bookies as well as brick to mortar ones that offer betting markets on athletics, especially during major events. Do some research on each bookmaker and pay close attention to the bonus bets that could help you make the most of your bets.
- Slow and simple – if you’re new to athletics betting, keep your bets simple at first. Once you have some experience and a pulse of some events, you can start wagering on more complex selections.
- Discipline and consistency – to make money betting on athletics you have to have discipline. Don’t get carried away if you have some beginner’s luck or are on a winning streak. Determine an amount of money you would be comfortable losing and put together a staking plan around it. Predetermine some percentages of your funds you will use to back a bet based on your confidence level. Be consistent and stick to those percentages and under no circumstances stake your entire funds on a single bet. A £100 bankroll can be gone in a split second when going all in on a bet. On the other hand, it can provide tons of opportunities to make some money betting on athletics when each wager is at the most 5% of the bankroll.
- Compare odds at different bookies – when you decide on an athletic bet you wish to place a wager on, don’t just go for comfort. You may be tempted to use the online bookie you are already registered with or the land bookmaker just across the road, but you might find better odds value at different online bookies or farther away than across the road bookmakers. Also keep in mind that some bookies allow you to watch football online free.
Athletics Major Events
The most prestigious athletic events that draw the highest public interest and bring the biggest stake for athletes, open the bookmakers to numerous betting markets on athletics. While on some bookies you can bet on college athletic events or even youth athletics, the best diversity and diversity in the betting market comes during two main events:
- Summer Olympics – athletics has been a staple of the Olympic Games since their beginning in ancient times, almost 3000 years ago. To this day, it still remains the most popular discipline at the Olympics. Bettor or not, everybody wants to see who world’s fastest man is in the 100m sprint race. The only negative with betting on athletics in the Summer Olympics is that it only happens every four years.
- World Athletic Championships – they take place every two years and are very popular for the athletes and public alike. After the Olympics, the World Championships are the next competition in terms of prestige. The original World Athletic Championships took place in 1976 and only had one event, the men’s 50 km walk. Since then, the competition expanded by adding other events and grew in popularity globally. At the most recent 2017 World Athletics Championships in London, over 2000 athletes took part from over 200 countries. It broke a record even before the opening of the competition: the highest number of tickets sold in the history of the championships, over 700,000 of them.
Other notable athletics competitions that offer good betting opportunities are:
- European Championships – taking place every two years, the European Athletics Championships bring some good betting markets. They also offer a look at the favourite athletes leading up to the Olympics.
- Commonwealth Games – an international competition that takes every four years with athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations.
Online bookmakers to bet on Athletics
Betting on athletics is thrilling and entertaining. It can also be profitable when a bettor has a strategy and takes time to do some research on events and individual athletes. Whilst not a big hit among bettors, most UK bookmakers do offer athletics betting markets. Some reputable online bookies for betting on athletics are:
- BetVictor – covering the Olympic Games, World Championships, European Championships and Commonwealth Games
- Paddy Power – also covers most major athletic events and has a good ante-post athletics markets. You can bet years in advance on who will win a certain event at the Olympics.
- William Hill – caters to almost all athletics competitions and offers a good range of selections from total medals and world records to be broken to the more traditional markets like a straight winner.
FAQ
The next athletics game you will be able to bet on are the Olympics Games of Tokyo, happening starting Friday, 24 July 2025 and ends on Sunday, 9 August 2025.
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