First off, you don’t have to email me your thoughts about sports gambling. I know that some readers will disagree about its place in track and field – that’s fine. But one consistent theme in the formation of my opinions about how to improve the sport is to look outside our bubble to see what is working elsewhere. Betting on track is not that radical because it already exists, it’s just not ubiquitous in the United States, despite just about every other form of sports gambling being pushed upon us.

Trust me when I say that I am behind the scenes sending LinkedIn messages and building decks to try and change that. Until then we are going to look at some of the odds set by Bovada and DraftKings to see what financial opportunities may be present and how we can become more invested in these championships.

(For the record, this is not financial advice. For the love of god please don’t look to a track & field blog for financial advice!)

Most Gold Medals: Team USA (-5000) - Normally it’s not worth the effort to place a bet on such terrible odds, but this is literally free money. I’m tempted to put together a family and friends funding round to come up with every available dollar to put towards this. The only potential risk I’m assuming is that the website crashes or my account gets hacked.

Last year the United States won 13 golds and the next best was 4 by Ethiopia. At the 2019 World Championships, it was 14 to 5 over Kenya, and that same match-up was 10 to 5 in 2017. The closest call there has been in recent history was at the Olympics when the United States only won 7, yet somehow Italy won 5, which actually was more like 4.5.

Theoretically, you could put $10,000 in and in two weeks it’ll turn into $10,200. Not even your Marcus account can guarantee this sort of savings rate.

W 100: Shericka Jackson (+450) and/or Sha'Carri Richardson (+550) - Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce has won the 100m title on seven occasions so it seems fair that she’d be the favorite. Except a late start to her season has resulted in what would be considered a relatively slow season’s best of 10.82. The gamble here is on how much has SAFP improved in the last month.

I am not personally betting against the Pocket Rocket. But I am acknowledging that there is tremendous potential value to placing wagers on the two women who have run consistently and significantly faster this year.

Heavy Favorites Parlay: Yulimar Rojas (-3500), Mondo Duplantis (-1000), Femke Bol (-1600), Faith Kipyegon (-1100), Jakob Ingebrigtsen (-650), Ryan Crouser (-1000), Noah Lyles (-280)

If, like my editor, the only thing you know about sports betting is that it took place in Uncut Gems, then this could be the bet for you! (I haven’t seen the film, personally, but I trust the protagonist won big on his parlay and then nothing bad happened to him.)

These seven athletes each have a VERY good chance of winning. They’re literally the odds-on favorites and have been dominant all season long. But combine them and all of a sudden… all it takes is one twisted ankle or stomach bug and this thing tanks. Any cross country runner could tell you that seven people have never all shown up on the same day. Don’t take this bet, unless you desperately want to be nervous for nine days straight just to turn $100 into an additional $125.

M Steeplechase: Lamecha Girma (+200)

Honestly, I am feeling second-hand disrespect on behalf of Lamecha Girma seeing the way that he’s being treated here. The Ethiopian broke a 19-year-old world record to run 7:52.11 THIS SEASON and yet they are saying he’s a long shot against Soufiane El Bakkali (-200).

I get it in the sense that the Moroccan is the defending champion and owns a 7-1 record against Girma. But this is not the same Girma anymore! This year he also ran 3:29.51 for 1500m and 7:23.81 for the indoor 3000m world record. In their one matchup, Girma won the flat 3000m in Doha and El Bakkali was nowhere close. Yes, he has four global championship silver medals, but if the best time to win a gold medal was last year then the next best time is this year.