Paris Olympics 2024: GB's Hudson-Smith 11/8 shot in Sunday's 400m

• Elisa Longo Borghini (17/29.50) has style to win Women's Road Race

• Norman and Gardiner may outclass Hudson-Smith in Men's 400m

• Short-odds hurdlers look shaky

• Daniel Wiffen (4/61.67) will need to improve on his best for repeat swimming gold

• Use Betfair's Safer Gambling during the Paris 2024 Olympics

Self-starter Borghini suits Women's Road Race

Lottie Kopecky (BELGIUM) (21/10) is a worthy favourite for the Women's Road Race. Reigning World Champion and the winner of Paris-Roubaix and Strade Bianche this season, she will thrive on the 158km hilly course, that features three finishing loops around a punishing Montmartre circuit. The fact that she is also twice a winner of Tour of Flanders suggests the route will hold no fears.

Kopecky's biggest rival may well be Lorena Wiebes (NETHERLANDS) (7/24.50). Usually a team mate of Kopecky's, Wiebes leads a star-studded Dutch team including Demi Vollering (6/17.00), Marianne Vos (4/15.00), and Ellen van Dijk (80/181.00). And provided that team supports their leader as national coach Loes Gunnewijk has said they will, Wiebes could go close.

Team GB will likely have something to cheer in the shape of Pfeiffer Georgi (GB) (33/134.00). She's consistent, but tends to find two or three riders too good in top flight competition. She would have done well to claim a medal.

At the odds, the recommendation, though, is Elisa Longo Borghini (ITALY) (17/29.50). She is a multiple winner of all the one-day races that mirror this Olympic challenge, showed she is in excellent form when winning the Giro in early July, and has the kind of self-creating, aggressive style that tends to bring chances in these Olympic races, where team orders are rarely as well executed as in pro tour contests.

Hudson-Smith chasing Chariots of Fire legend

Matt Hudson-Smith (GB) (13/102.30) starts his campaign to become the first British gold medallist in the Men's 400m since the last Paris Olympics in 1924, when Eric Liddell of Chariots of Fire fame took the gold.

Hudson-Smith has run two of the four fastest times in the world this season and will be buoyed by breaking the 44-second mark at the London Diamond League.

This is a deep field, though, and a case can be made for several. For those wanting bigger odds, Michael Norman (USA) (7/18.00) gets the nod over Steven Gardiner (BAHAMAS) (4/15.00). Norman won Olympic gold in Tokyo, and followed up as World Champion in 2022. He was beaten into silver by Quincy Hall (USA) (11/43.75) at the US Trials in June, but Norman has the class to come back from that, and is still only 26.

Odds-on Holloway and McLaughlin face hurdles to justify odds-on status

Grant Holloway (USA) (1/61.17) has continued to dominate the Men's 110m Hurdles this season and it's hard to see him getting beaten, but then memories of his capitulation in Tokyo, where Hansle Parchment (JAMAICA) (17/29.50) ran past Holloway in the final stages, will be hard to forget, and those short odds might best be avoided.

But they are perhaps better value than the 1/61.17 available on Sydney McLaughlin (USA). McLaughlin's Women's 400m Hurdles world record mark at the US Trials was impressive, and as the reigning Olympic and 2022 World Champion she is the rightful favourite, but she is much more closely matched with Femke Bol (NETHERLANDS) (10/34.33) than those odds suggest. Bol holds three of the five fastest times in the world this year, and is the smart bet.

Wiffen will need to improve again to repeat pool gold

The last night in the pool sees four gold medals on offer, and Sarah Sjostrom (SWEDEN) (2/91.22) should ease to victory in the Women's 50m Freestyle.

A much closer contest will likely be seen in the Men's 1,500m Freestyle, where Daniel Wiffen (IRELAND) (4/61.67) will hope to replicate his 800m success. He's six seconds faster than rival Bobby Finke (USA) (11/43.75) this season, a mark Wiffen set at the World Championships in Doha in February. But then Finke set his best at the US Trials, a race he won by twelve seconds, so it might make more sense to look at their PBs. When Finke claimed silver at last year's World Championships he set a mark three seconds quicker than anything Wiffen has swum, and so Finke looks the better value at the odds.

The Men's 4 x 100m Individual Medley looks like a match race between USA (4/51.80) and China (13/82.63). With China setting a stunning mark at the Asian Games in September, bringing them neck-and-neck with Team USA, this is likely a coin toss and one to watch rather than bet on.

At the time of writing, the market for the Women's 4 x 100m Medley is not available, but USA should be favourites to reclaim the Olympic crown from Australia. On their best times, the USA have a second in hand on their rivals.

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