One of the most exciting events in the Olympics is the 50m freestyle in swimming, as it is just one trip down the pool and it is truly anyone’s race. On the men’s side in Paris, reigning gold medalist Caeleb Dressel comes into the Paris Olympics looking to defend his gold medal for the United States. But there are so many swimmers who could take his throne. Here, we break down the Olympic men’s 50m freestyle race in swimming and make our pick to win it.
Olympic Men’s 50m Freestyle Betting Odds
| Swimmer | Gold Medal Odds |
| Cameron McEvoy | +100 |
| Caeleb Dressel | +200 |
| Benjamin Proud | +400 |
| Vladyslav Bukhov | +800 |
| Josh Liendo | +1000 |
| Florent Manaudou | +1000 |
| Chris Guiliano | +2000 |
| Kristian Gkolomeev | +2500 |
| Maxime Grousset | +3500 |
| Gabriel Castano Garcia | +4000 |
| Bjoern Seeliger | +4000 |
| Stergios Marios Bilas | +8000 |
Odds from DraftKings Sportsbook
The favorite to win this event is Cameron McEvoy of Australia, who comes in at around even odds. McEvoy won this event at the World Aquatics Championships in 2023 and finished in third at the 2024 World Championships in Doha in this distance. He has never earned better than a bronze medal at the Olympics in his career, but that could change here, as he gets set to take the big stage with heightened expectations.
Olympic Men’s 50m Freestyle Major Storylines
Along with the favorite in McEvoy, the top storyline going into the Olympic men’s 50m freestyle race is what we will get out of Caeleb Dressel of the United States. Dressel won this event at the Tokyo Olympics and is second to McEvoy on the list of favorites in this year’s games. Dressel won gold at the 2022 World Championships in this distance, following up nicely on his Tokyo Olympic title. But without him having been in major races since then, there will be questions about his performance here until he takes to the water.
Then there is the question of whether or not we will get any surprises in this year’s men’s 50m freestyle event. The short distance of this race makes it so that even the best swimmers on the planet have to be near-perfect in order to come away with a win. Otherwise, one of the names further down the odds list for this event could come away with a gold medal of their own, something that is entirely possible.
Olympic Men’s 50m Freestyle Medal Contenders
Outside of McEvoy and Dressel, nearly everyone who is still in the field for this event has a chance to come away with Olympic men’s 50m freestyle gold. Benjamin Proud of Great Britain and Vladyslav Bukhov are being given the best chance to finish on the podium from outside of the top-two on the list of favorites, but this race is pretty wide open and we could see medalists come from just about anywhere.
Canada’s Josh Liendo and France’s Florent Manaudou are also firmly in medal contention in this race. Manaudou has won silver or better in three straight Olympics in this event, and he could very well grab another medal at the age of 33 in front of his countrymen in France.
Men’s 50m Freestyle Betting Prediction: Florent Manaudou (+1000)
In a race like this one, you are better off taking a longshot than betting on the chalk, just because of the smaller window for favorites to pull away from the competition. We will take a shot with France’s Manaudou in this competition. He has a proven track record of success in this event and, despite his age, should be in the mix where we feel there is value on him at +1000 to come out on top.
