- Johannes Vetter is currently second place all time in distance in the javelin throw.
- He’s had four years running of personal bests over 90 meters.
- His odds to win gold in Men's Javelin are -1000.
TOKYO - Johannes Vetter is one of the most dominant athletes at the Olympics, at least as far as odds to win the gold medal in his event go. Vetter has amazing -1000 odds to win the Men’s Javelin Throw, the final of which kicks off at 7 a.m. on Saturday.
Vetter currently holds second place on the all time records for the men’s javelin throw, with a personal best of 97.76 meters - more than 320 feet.
However, he came in fourth place in this contest in the 2016 Olympics, although he has improved since that time, setting his personal best in 2020.
Given his steadfast improvement in distance since he missed a medal in Rio, he enters Saturday as a notable favorite.
Tokyo 2021 Olympics - Men’s Javelin Throw Odds
- Johannes Vetter -1000
- Neeraj Chopra +550
- Arshad Nadeem +2000
- Julian Weber +2500
- Andrian Mandare +3300
- Jakub Vadlejch +4000
- Aliaksei Katkavets +6600
- Pavel Mialeshka +6600
- Lassi Etelatalo +8000
- Vitezslav Vesely +15000
- Alexandru Novac +20000
- Kim Amb +20000
Vetter stands alone at the top of the odds boards on the online sportsbooks, as he is not only the competitor in the field with the longest personal best, he’s entering this Olympics in the best form of his life.
As of 2016, Vetter’s personal best was 89.57 meters, and he still got fourth place in Rio. Now, he’s added more than seven meters to it. For context, Neeraj Chopra, who is closest to Vetter on the odds boards, has never reached 90 meters on a throw.
Neither has Arshad Nadeem, or Julian Weber.
For four years now, Vetter has had throws of over 90 meters, and nobody else on the Olympics odds has been close.
He is a dominant favorite statistically, and his odds are so prohibitive that many online gamblers will not want to wager on them.
They probably should. Vetter presents the rare case of a -1000 athlete who is so far ahead of the competition that his odds are at least worth looking at. It’s rare to see that with someone as favored as Vetter is on the online sportsbooks, but his dominance deserves it.
If he performs up to the level of expectations for him - or even a bit below it - he should cruise to a gold medal on Saturday.