Paris Olympics 2024 Betting Tips: Back 12/1 & 17/1 Swimming bets on Wednesday

• China can cause surprise in Women's BMX Freestyle

• Women's 100m Freestyle looks open race

• Katie Ledecky will dominate in swimming's metric mile

• Expect surprises in Men's 100m Freestyle

• 7/42.75 Potter takes Bronze in Triathlon

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

Women's 100m Freestyle open for outsider Steenbergen

Australia's Mollie O'Callaghan looks short at 4/71.57 for glory in the Women's 100m Freestyle, an event where the fastest five in the world are separated by just over a quarter of a second.

The fastest of late, Siobhan Haughey (Hong Kong) at 3/14.00 is likewise short odds for a swimmer who has a habit of finishing second. She won two silvers at Tokyo 2020 and has finished runner-up twice in this event in the last two World Championships.

The winner of that 2024 world title, Netherlands' Marrit Steenbergen (12/113.00), is the most interesting betting prospect - expect her to finish strongly, bettering swimmers who have gone out too quickly.

Ledecky will dominate Women's 1500m Freestyle

If you want to watch total dominance, Katie Ledecky (USA) (1/251.04) should offer that in the Women's 1500m Freestyle. The holder of the 19 fastest times in the history of the event, she is likely to win this by a significant margin. If backing long odds-on shots is your thing, only a pack of piranhas would be likely to impede Ledecky here.

Oppose youth in Men's 100m Freestyle

One of the marquee events in the Olympic pool, this is favoured to fall to a teenager, with new world record holder Pan Zhanle (CHI) (10/111.91) slightly favoured over Romania's David Popovici (15/82.88), who held the record before him. The event is more open than the market suggests, though, as there is little guarantee either Zhanle or Popovici will be able to produce their best in the more frenetic and choppy waters of an Olympic final.

At the other end of the age spectrum, Kyle Chalmers (AUS) (16/54.20) has shown he can perform on the big stage, but preference is for Maxime Grousset (FRA) (17/118.00) who finished off the podium in Tokyo but has been consistently lowering his times and will be buoyed by a home crowd.

Potter can cast spell over Women's Triathlon rivals

Team GB's women triathletes should do better than their selectors, who were still faffing about with picking the team for Paris 2024 in May, with an arcane process that saw Kate Waugh (19/120.00) being picked ahead of Sophie Caldwell in controversial circumstances.

Selector inadequacies aside, though, Team GB have a realistic chance of claiming all the medals. Beth Potter (7/42.75) is the rightful favourite for the event and should better France's Cassandre Beaugrand (15/82.88), if only because she's the better runner - usually decisive in the event - and at the time of writing, there's a chance the event will turn into a Duathlon, with swimming in the Seine deemed unsafe, which would make Potter a stronger bet still.

Georgia Taylor-Brown (9/110.00) makes up the British trio and will be hopeful of at least repeating her silver from Tokyo 2020, where she looked set for victory had she not suffered a puncture on the final cycling lap.

Charlotte Worthington unlikely for repeat in Women's BMX

The market has American Hannah Roberts at 11/10, short odds for someone recently returning from dislocations and bulging disks (whatever they are). Roberts is, however, a prolific world champion, but her second run in Tokyo - where she fell - and the fact that she looked indifferent in qualifying - only placing fourth in the first of a two-part series - demonstrates how volatile the sport is, and better value can be found elsewhere.

Tokyo gold medallist and Team GB hope Charlotte Worthington (15/28.50) took some time out of the sport, saying she was struggling with the pressures of being Olympic champion, and her recent results suggest a podium place is possible, but a repeat of her Tokyo gold is unlikely.

The smart money is on China's Deng Yawen (7/18.00) and Sun Jiaqi (15/28.50). Under the coaching of Daniel Dhers, China's team has made rapid progress, and both impressed during qualifying events. Jiaqi is just favoured.

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