Katie Ledecky Remains Gigantic Favorite in 800m and 1500m Olympic Swimming Odds

United States swimming legend Katie Ledecky is heavily favored to win gold in both the 800m and 1500m freestyle at the 2024 Olympics.

Katie Ledecky (USA) in the women’s 400-meter freestyle medal ceremony. / Rob Schumacher-USA TODAY Sports

Tuesday was just another day at the office for legendary United States swimmer Katie Ledecky, as she punched her ticket to the final in the Women’s 1500m Freestyle. 

It's what she does. 🤷‍♀️

Katie Ledecky dominates to punch her ticket to the 1500m free final. #ParisOlympics pic.twitter.com/bf9Rsy14V8

— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) July 30, 2024

Ledecky obliterated the competition in her heat, and she didn’t even need to swim a record time in the 1500m to do so. 

Oddsmakers have released updated odds for Ledecky in both the 800m and 1500m freestyle, and she’s widely expected to come away with the gold in both events. 

Women’s 1500m Freestyle Odds – Olympic Swimming

Ledecky is truly in a class of her own when it comes to the 1500m, and it shows in the odds – and her time from Tuesday’s race. 

Ledecky is -3500 at DraftKings Sportsbook (an implied probability of 97.22 percent) to win the gold medal in the event. 

In her race to earn a spot in the final, Ledecky finished with a time of 15:47:43 while the second place finisher Li Bingjie finished at 16:05:26. 

That’s nearly an 18-second difference!

When Katie Ledecky's in the pool for the 1500m free, it's a race for second place. 🤷‍♀️🇺🇸 #ParisOlympics pic.twitter.com/PLvJD9MRz7

— NBC Sports (@NBCSports) July 30, 2024

Ledecky is in a class of her own in the 1500m when it came to her heat on Tuesday, but there is a little more competition in the rest of the field. Italy's Simona Quadrella finished second overall with a time of 15:51.19 and both France's Anastasiya Kirpichnikova and Germany's Isabel Marie Gose also cleared 16 minutes.

Still, Ledecky had nearly a four-second edge on the rest of the competition, and she was 10 seconds off of her time from the 2020 Olympics, so there is still room for growth for the USA legend. 

She’ll look to capture the gold medal in the final on Wednesday. That event is set to begin just after 3 p.m. EST. 

Women’s 800m Freestyle Odds – Olympic Swimming

Odds via FanDuel Sportsbook.

• Katie Ledecky (USA): -400
• Ariarne Titmus (AUS): +260
• Lani Pallister (AUS): +4600
• Li Bingjie (CHN): +4600
• Simona Quadarella (ITA): +5500
• Paige Madden (USA): +6000
• Isabel Gose (GER): +6000
• Anastasiia Kirpichnikova (FRA): +6500
• Eve Thomas (NZL): +7500
• Ajna Késely (HUN): +8000
• Maria Fernanda Costa (BRA): +10000
• Agostina Hein (ARG): +11000

In the 800m, Ledecky isn’t as big of a favorite, but given her splits in the 1500m, she still is in the driver’s seat for the gold. 

Based on these odds at -400, Ledecky has a 80 percent implied probability to finish with the gold medal. Her 800m split in today’s 1500m clocked in at 8:22:28.

A seven-time gold medalist, Ledecky looks poised to add to her trophy case, and bettors are going to have to lay a major price with her if they want to back her to do so.

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Odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.

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