World Athletics Championships Odds

The 2023 World Athletics Championships have just concluded, but here at BettingOdds, we’re already preparing for the next edition in 2025. 

Use this page as an informative guide on how and where you can place bets on the next athletics World Championships. We’ll run you through the biggest athletics events, the most popular betting markets, and provide some expert tips on the wagers to place. Have a read through what’s on offer, find your ideal World Athletics Championships betting site, click through and sign up.

World Athletics Championship Betting

The World Athletics Championships is held at a different host city every two years. 2023’s event in Budapest, Hungary has just concluded, so we’re looking ahead to the 2025 edition in Tokyo, Japan, which is set to take place from September 13-21. 

Noah Lyles, Karsten Warholm, Armand Duplantis, Sha’Carri Richardson, Shericka Jackson, Faith Kipyegon and Jakob Ingebrigtsen are some of the high-profile names that will look to extend their supremacy at the 2025 World Athletics Championships. 

World Athletics Championships Disciplines

There are 49 athletics events at the World Championships, split evenly between the men’s and women’s competition with one mixed relay event. Athletics events take place on both the track and field, making up a core component of Olympics programmes. Here are the major athletic disciplines at the World Champs:

• 100m — The most famous athletics event, the 100m is a sheer sprint to the finish line. Americans Noah Lyles and Sha’Carri Richardson won the respective men’s and women’s 100m in 2023. 
• 200m — Doubling the distance is the 200m sprint, which takes place across half of a full-length athletics track. Noah Lyles claimed the gold medal in this event too, while Jamaican Shericka Jackson won the women’s event. 
• 400m — The last of the short-distance events, the 400m is one lap of the track. Antonio Watson of Jamaica won the men’s event, and Marileidy Paulino of the Dominican Republic took home gold in the women’s race. 
• 800m — The 800m is considered a middle-distance race of two laps of the track. Canada’s Marco Arop won gold in the men’s race, while Kenya’s Mary Moraa took gold in the women’s with her personal best time.
• 1500m — Great Britain’s Josh Kerr won one of GB’s two gold medals at the 2023 Championships in the 1500m, beating the indoor world-record holder Jakob Ingebrigtsen. Faith Kipyegon is the current world record holder for the 1500m, mile, and 5000m women’s events, and she took home the second of Kenya’s three gold medals here. 
• 5k — Ingebrigtsen wasn’t prepared to miss out on the 5000m gold and won the men’s event by .14 of a second. Kipyegon continued her dominance of the long-distance races by winning her second gold of the Championships. 
• 10k — Current world-record holder Joshua Cheptegei of Uganda won the men’s event in 2023, while Ethiopia’s Gudaf Tsegay came first in the women’s race. 
• Marathon — Uganda picked up their second gold medal in the men’s marathon as Victor Kiplangat crossed the finish line with .59 of a second to spare. The women’s event was even closer – Ethiopia’s Amane Beriso won the gold by .11 of a second – a remarkable margin for a race more than 26 miles long.
• 100m Hurdles (Women) — The hurdles is a sprint race with jumping obstacles planted on the track which athletes must hurdle over. Just .03 seconds separated first from third in the 100m women’s final. Jamaica’s Danielle Williams beat Puerto Rico’s Jasmine Camacho-Quinn by .01 seconds. 
• 110m Hurdles (Men) — Grant Holloway of the US took home the third of his World Championship gold medals in the 110m hurdles. 
• 400m Hurdles — It came as no surprise when Olympic champion, 3x world champion, and current world-record holder Karsten Warholm won gold in the 400m hurdles. The Netherlands’ Femke Bol obliterated her field in the women’s event, winning gold by more than a second. 
• 3k Steeplechase — The 3k steeplechase is an event taken from horse racing, where runners must negotiate 28 barriers and seven water jumps over a 3,000m distance. Soufiane El Bakkali of Morocco won the men’s event, while Bahrain’s Winfred Yavi took home the women’s gold. 
• 20km Walk — The Spanish seem to have a stronghold on the walking events: Alvaro Martin won gold for the men and Maria Perez for the women. 
• 35km Walk — It was a repeat result in the 35km: gold for both Martin and Perez.
• 4x100m Relay — This event sees teams of four race against one another, each covering 100m and passing over the baton in the changeover. Noah Lyles won his third gold medal at the 2023 World Champs as his USA team – also comprising Christian Coleman, Fred Kerley and Brandon Carnes – won gold. It was a double sweep for the US, with the women also bringing home the gold: Tamari Davis, Twanisha Terry, Gabrielle Thomas and Sha’Charri Richardson made up the team for the final. 
• 4x400m Relay — The American men’s team also won gold in the 4x400m, with Quincy Hall, Vernon Norwood, Justin Robinson and Rai Benjamin crossing the line with almost a second to spare. The Netherlands picked up their second gold of the Championships with a team comprising Eveline Saalberg, Lieke Klaver, Cathelijn Peeters and Femke Bol. 
• 4x400m Relay (Mixed) — The mixed 4x400m relay is the only event at the Athletics World Championships that features both male and female athletes in the same race. The US comfortably won the 2023 event, with Justin Robinson, Rosey Effiong, Matthew Boling and Alexis Holmes making up the team.
• High Jump — Moving from the track to the field is the high jump, where athletes must clear a bar from the floor raised at incremental levels. Olympic champion Gianmarco Tamberi of Italy won the men’s high jump gold, while Ukraine’s Yaroslava Mahuchikh won the women’s event. 
• Pole Vault — Possibly the most peculiar of all athletics disciplines, the pole vault sees athletes propel themselves over a bar using an elastic pole. Sweden’s Armand Duplantis has broken his own world-record an astonishing six times, stretching the height to 6m22. Unsurprisingly, he won gold in Budapest. The women’s gold was shared between Australia’s Nina Kennedy and America’s Katie Moon after both athletes agreed to tie the event instead of competing further to break the deadlock.
• Long Jump — Greece’s only gold medal came in the men’s long jump, where Miltiadis Tentoglou jumped 8.52m. Serbia’s only medal of the whole championships came in the women’s event – Ivana Vuleta’s 7.14m was comfortably good enough for gold. 
• Triple Jump — The triple jump allows athletes to leap three times before making their final mark in the sandpit. Hugues Fabrice Zango of Burkina Faso won gold for the men; Olympic champion Yulimar Rojas won gold for Venezuela in the women’s event. 
• Shot Put — The shot put is one of four throwing disciplines at the World Athletics Championships, requiring athletes to hurl a heavy spherical ball as far as possible. The men’s shot put weighs 7.26kg and the women’s 4kg. The US picked up both gold medals in 2023: Ryan Crouser for the men and Chase Ealey for the women. 
• Discus — The discus is a disk-like object launched significantly further than the shot put. Sweden’s Daniel Stahl won gold in the men’s event; America’s Laulauga Tausaga won gold in the women’s. 
• Hammer Throw — The hammer throw is a similar event, won in 2023 by Canada’s Ethan Katzberg (men) and Camryn Rogers (women).
• Javelin — The javelin sees athletes throw a spear-like object up to distances of 90m. In an event typically dominated by eastern Europeans, India’s Neeraj Chopra won an historic gold in 2023. Japan’s Haruka Kitaguchi also won her country’s first gold medal in the women’s event. 
• Decathlon (Men) — The decathlon is a combination of ten different track and field events taking place across two days, where athletes accrue points based on their performance in each event. The ten events are 100m, 110m hurdles, 400m, 1500m, long jump, high jump, shot put, discus, javelin and pole vault. Canada’s Pierce LePage won gold in 2023. 
• Heptathlon (Women) — Female athletes compete in the heptathlon – a similar event comprised of seven individual disciplines: 100m hurdles, 200m, 800m, high jump, long jump, shot put and javelin. GB’s Katarina Johnson-Thompson overcame her injury issues to win gold in Budapest.

Popular World Athletics Championships Betting Markets

You’ll find competitive odds on a range of betting markets at our recommended Athletics World Championships betting sites. The main focus at these bookmakers will be win-only odds on individual events, but there are other betting markets to be aware of – here are some of the most popular:

• Outright Winner — Select the athlete to win any event final.
• To Win a Medal — Pick one athlete to finish on the podium, either in first, second or third place. 
• To Qualify — The Athletics World Championships consist of heats and a final. In this market, you can select the athletes you think will qualify into the final.
• Top of the Medal Table — The medal table always makes for interesting reading at any athletics event. The United States comfortably won the most golds and the most overall medals in 2023 – will they do the same in Tokyo?
• Specials — World Championship betting sites will also offer a bunch of more specialist betting markets, such as certain athletes to break world or championship records, to beat a specific time or distance, or an individual country’s medal total. 

World Athletics Championships In-Play Betting

In-play betting has changed the complexion of sports wagering. In-play markets allow punters to respond to the event they’re betting on in real-time, with odds fluctuating accordingly. It adds an extra dynamic to the betting experience, bringing punters closer to the action. Here are some of the pros and cons of live betting.

World Athletics Championships History

Dedicated World Athletics Championships have taken place since 1983; prior to this first competition, the Olympic Games also served as the World Championships for athletics. Between 1983 and 1991 the championships took place over four-year intervals, but this changed for the 1993 event in Stuttgart. 

The US has dominated the event with 443 medals in total; Kenya is the second-most successful nation with 171 medals. Great Britain sits seventh on that list with 121 medals, ten of which came in 2023. Here’s a table detailing each Athletics World Championships:

World Athletics Championship Betting Tips

For those wanting to get the most out of this page and its contents, follow these four steps. 

Read our Betting Previews and Tips

BettingOdds will be home to athletics articles, previews and tips in the build up to and throughout the 2025 World Athletics Championships. Our expert tipsters offer free advice – you might as well take it!

Compare Odds

You’ll want to compare the odds across multiple betting sites in order to find the best price. Our comparison odds tables do just that, so you can always find the best odds for the market you’re looking at. 

Study Athletes’ Form

Performing well in major athletics events is always about finding the best form at the critical moment. Make sure you conduct some research in this area before you bet, considering athletes’ recent performances, injuries, and the conditions on the day. 

Never Bet More Than You’re Willing to Lose

Most of the time, you’re more likely to lose a bet than win it, which means you should always be comfortable with the worst possible outcome: losing your wager. Never bet more than you’re willing to lose, and always remember that gambling is supposed to be enjoyable.

Frequently Asked Questions