With Arlington, VA continuing its streak as “Fittest City in the U.S.,” The 2025 Arlington Olympics is generating heavy betting action from sports bettors worldwide, while also diminishing the interest in other summer sporting events.
U.S. Olympic gold medalist Noah Lyles recently canceled his sprint competition against NFL star Tyriek Hill, citing “personal reasons.”
In reality, interest in the Lyles-Hill race had dwindled, as interest continues to surge in the upcoming 2025 Arlington Olympics.
Rather than play second-fiddle, Lyles wisely decided to take the high road and let the track and field attention stay where it belongs: in Arlington.
FanDuel and DraftKings just released their betting favorites for each of the 12 events in The 2025 Arlington Olympics.
In order to provide further insights on the betting favorites, we spoke with two of the world’s top sports betting experts: Chester McBleacher of FanDuel and Summer Sickspak of DraftKings.
Below are their favorites for each event, followed by their explanation of each favorite:
Event #1: 100-Yard Sprint
- Female Favorites: Mirian Naybor (FanDuel) and Chelsea Matzen (DraftKings)
- Male Favorites: Greg Tashjian (FanDuel) and Bryan Arias (DraftKings)
Event #2: 200-Meter Sprint
- Female Favorites: Lisa Reuter (FanDuel) and Mary Patano (DraftKings)
- Male Favorites: Jory Callahan (FanDuel) and Colby Miller (DraftKings)
Event #3: 5K Obstacle Course Race
- Female Favorites: Angelika Hoelger (FanDuel) and Wendy Trickey (DraftKings)
- Male Favorites: Joe Kile (FanDuel) and Tom McCarthy (DraftKings)
Event #4: Core Strength Challenge
- Female Favorites: Iris Rios (FanDuel) and Meghan Griffin (DraftKings)
- Male Favorites: Marc Williams (FanDuel) and Steve Apsel (DraftKings)
Event #5: Pickleball Tournament
- Female Favorites: Heather Ingram (FanDuel) and Julie Burt (DraftKings)
- Male Favorites: Esen Onur (FanDuel) and Scott Oberstaedt (DraftKings)
Event #6: Max Broad Jump
- Female Favorites: Djannira Carrasco Garay (FanDuel) and Olga Hernandez (DraftKings)
- Male Favorites: Matt Morin (FanDuel) and Andrew Naybor (DraftKings)
Event #7: 400-Meter Sprint
- Female Favorites: Ashley Willingham (FanDuel) and Sophia Rivas (DraftKings)
- Male Favorites: Dom Angelotti (FanDuel) and Tom Bosley (DraftKings)
Event #8: Push-Up Challenge
- Female Favorites: Helen Tiene (FanDuel) and Tina Georgia (DraftKings)
- Male Favorites: Rob Salerno (FanDuel) and Jeremy Zelman (DraftKings)
Event #9: Three-Point Basketball Shooting Contest
- Female Favorites: Charlotte Bussema (FanDuel) and Melissa Front (DraftKings)
- Male Favorites: Joel Denicoff (FanDuel) and Matt DiNuzzo (DraftKings)
Event #10: One-Mile Run
- Female Favorites: Hillary Dang (FanDuel) and Fernanda Sobral (DraftKings)
- Male Favorites: Carlos Rivera (FanDuel) and Will Bennett (DraftKings)
Event #11: Team Obstacle Race
- Female Wildcard Favorites: Michela Boarnet (FanDuel) and Joy Halsey (DraftKings)
- Male Wildcard Favorites: Andres Rodriguez (FanDuel) and Steve Proctor (DraftKings)
Event #12: Table Tennis Tournament
- Female Favorites: Jill Shapiro (FanDuel) and Molly Preston (DraftKings)
- Male Favorites: Aaron Shapiro (FanDuel) and Josiah Gruber (DraftKings)
Betting Insights from DraftKings and FanDuel
For detailed betting analysis on The 2025 Arlington Olympics, we spoke with two of the world’s top sports betting experts:
- Chester McBleacher, EVP of Sports Betting at FanDuel
- Summer Sickspak, Head of Sports Betting at DraftKings
Here are some of their insights for each event…
Event #1:
FanDuel has Mirian Naybor and Greg Tashjian taking gold for the 100, while DraftKings predicts Chelsea Matzen and Bryan Arias. “Naybor and Tashjian are last year’s champs. We see them defending their crowns,” said McBleacher.
DraftKings favors the 2023 champ, Chelsea Matzen, on the womens’ side, along with 2024 silver medalist Bryan Arias on the mens’ side. “It’s Arias’ time,” said Sickspak. “As for Matzen, she is hosting a ‘Hot Ones’ hot wings party this weekend. We expect that event to unleash a competitive fire inside of her that will be too hot for the rest of the field to handle.”
Event #2:
For the 200-meter sprint, DraftKings favors Colby Miller and Mary Patano, while FanDuel predicts a victory for Jory Callahan and Lisa Reuter.
Miller has drawn the ire of several other competitors for repeatedly holding bunny ears over their heads during ASC team photos.
More recently, he has refused to participate in team photos, instead opting to be the team photographer. “That’s the type of unrelenting competitiveness that you often find in world-class sprinters,” said Sickspak about Miller.
McBleacher was quick to respond: “Callahan is a well-conditioned boxer who is not scurred of anyone. We are confident he will knock out the rest of the competition.”
Event #3:
For the 5K Obstacle Course Race, FanDuel favors Joe Kile and Angelika Hoelger, while DraftKings predicts Tom McCarthy and Wendy Trickey.
“Kile once rode his bicycle across the entire state of Iowa. He won’t even break a sweat doing a 5K race,” said McBleacher. “As for Hoelger, she lives within walking distance of the Lubber Run Nature Trail. She has been studying the course for months. No one is gonna beat her.”
DraftKings sees this event shaping up differently. “Kile can ride his bike all he wants,” said Sickspak. “Our money is on Tom McCarthy. He’s the President of the NOVA Running Club. As for Trickey, she posted one of the top times in ASC’s 5K OCR in April. We expect her to build on that performance come August.”
Event #4:
For the Core Strength Challenge, FanDuel favors Marc Williams and Iris Rios, while DraftKings sees Steve Apsel and Meghan Griffin as the victors.
Williams is long-time friends with the founder of the Pilates brand known as [solidcore]. “It is common knowledge that Williams’ chiseled midsection served as the inspiration for the name of the ‘solidcore’ brand,” said McBleacher.
“As for Rios, she narrowly lost last year’s core strength challenge and vowed to come back even stronger this time around,” he added.
Sickspak was unimpressed by FanDuel’s predictions. “Apsel throws kettlebells around as if they are fluffy little pillows. We fully expect him to take gold for any core strength challenge thrown his way. As for Griffin, she plans to show Rios who the real core champ is,” she said.
Event #5:
For the Pickleball Tournament, Fanduel has Heather Ingram and Esen Onur as the champs, while DraftKings likes Scott Oberstaedt and Julie Burt. “Ingram’s unique background of Ultimate Frisbee and yoga mastery will be an unbeatable advantage on the pickleball court. As for Onur, he plans to spend part of July training overseas with the Turkish Pickleball team.”
Sickspak fired back. “Burt walks thousands of laps inside of the Lubber Run Community Center each year after ASC workouts. She uses these laps not for leisure, but to meticulously analyze the pickleball games occurring at Lubber Run. This relentless research will give her an unparalleled edge. As for Oberstaedt, his extensive long-distance running background will surely have the competition out of breath in no time.”
Event #6:
For the Max Broad Jump, the sportsbooks have friends Djannira Carrasco Garay and Olga Hernandez pitted against each other on the womens’ side, with FanDuel favoring Carrasco Garay and DraftKings favoring Hernandez.
On the mens’ side, FanDuel favors Matt Morin, while DraftKings sees Naybor as the man to beat.
Last month, a leaked 23andMe genetic test revealed that Morin is a distant relative of three-time NBA Dunk champion Mac McClung. Mac recently jumped over a car as part of his latest NBA dunking victory.
To honor his distant relative, Morin asked ASC Founder Pete Leibman if he could spice up the Max Broad Jump competition by broad jumping over the Buff Bus.
Excited by an outstanding PR opportunity and comforted by his extensive liability coverage and bulletproof waiver form, Leibman promptly agreed to Morin’s request.
Sickspak offered a razor-sharp retort in response: “While Morin is distracted by attempting to jump over a muscular Mercedes-Benz, Naybor will be focused on jumping over the competition en route to a gold medal.”
Event #7:
For the 400-meter sprint event, FanDuel predicts Dom Angelotti as the man to beat, while DraftKings sees Tom Bosley posting the fastest time across all men.
On the women’s side, the sportsbooks have friends Ashley Willingham and Sophia Rivas pitted against each other. “We not only predict Willingham will beat every other woman in this event, we predict that she will also beat every man competing in this event. The 400 is her specialty,” said McBleacher.
As for Rivas, Sickspak was equally confident. “Its unlikely Willingham will want to remain friends with Rivas after Rivas vanquishes her 400-meter time in pursuit of the gold,” she said.
Event #8:
As for the Push-Up Challenge, The 2025 Arlington Olympics include a new set of rules after last year’s Push-Up Competition came under intense scrutiny. Video footage from 2024 revealed that numerous competitors failed to maintain proper form throughout the event, which led to some questionable results.
ASC Founder Pete Leibman also lost his voice after the event from having to yell “Don’t drop your head!” 723 different times in less than four minutes.
On the womens’ side, FanDuel favors Helen Tiene to repeat as push-up champion, while DraftKings favors Tina Georgia to be the new champ.
On the mens’ side, FanDuel sees Rob Salerno going for gold. “Salerno has completed more than seven million pushups at ASC workouts in the last two years alone. He will be well-prepared to dominate this year’s event,” said McBleacher.
DraftKings predicts an upset, however, with Jeremy Zelman being the winner. Zelman is choosing to employ an unconventional strategy leading up to the event, by spending two weeks in Sicily to carb-load on pasta.
“Sicilian pasta is universally recognized as the world’s premier performance-enhancing carbohydrate,” said Sickspak. “It might become a banned substance in the future, but for now, it’s street legal and should provide Zelman with a delicious boost.”
Event #9:
For the three-point shooting contest, FanDuel and DraftKings have two Boston Celtics fans as the predicted female winners, with Fanduel favoring Charlotte Bussema and DraftKings preferring Melissa Front.
McBleacher, a notoriously rowdy Knicks fan offered several words of wisdom for the female competitors: “Let’s hope they shoot better from three than the Celtics did against the Knicks in the 2025 NBA Playoffs. Go New York, Go New York, Go!” he proclaimed.
On the mens’ side, FanDuel predicts a victory for Joel Denicoff, while DraftKings favors Matt DiNuzzo, partly due to the latter’s high school basketball experience and partly due to his engineering chops.
DiNuzzo reportedly developed a proprietary algorithm to calculate the ideal launch-point for a three-point shot. “His algorithm is flawless. If he misses a shot, it’s not because of him. It’s because there must be a problem with the rim,” said Sickspak.
Event #10:
For the one-mile race, the sportsbooks once again have two friends up against each other, this time with former Hyrox teammates Hillary Dang and Fernanda Sobral.
Dang unsuccessfully tried to petition the Arlington Olympics Committee to change the one-mile race event to a 24-hour marathon of non-stop double-sided bleachers.
“I like where her head was at. I do love me some bleachers,” said McBleacher. “However, it was the right decision for the committee to reject her outrageous request. Nonetheless, we still see her crushing the competition in a one-mile race.”
Sickspak disagreed. “Sobral is currently training for a marathon. A one-mile race will be a breeze for her. We also like her martial arts background. If anyone tries to get in front of her, she can always employ an armbar, a double leg takedown, or a hip bump sweep.”
On the mens’ side, the sportsbooks both view marathon experience as an advantage, with FanDuel liking Carlos Rivera and DraftKings liking Will Bennett. Both men have successfully completed many races in their storied running careers.
“Rivera eats miles for breakfast,” said McBleacher.
“Bennett eats miles for breakfast, lunch, and dinner!” yelled an agitated Sickspak in response.
Event #11:
For the team obstacle course race event, the sportsbooks rolled out a new betting feature this year called “wildcards.” Bettors can wager on individuals that they believe will be part of the winning teams.
On the mens’ side, FanDuel favors Andres Rodriguez as their preferred wildcard. “Rodriguez brings a rare combination of strength and endurance that will serve his team well. If ASC’s playlist that day is uncensored, it’s game over. He has a deep passion for colorful lyrics.”
DraftKings sees this event differently and favors Steve Proctor as their top wildcard. “Proctor has successfully completed nearly every ASC Field trip workout over the last few years. His unmatched adaptability across venues and events will greatly benefit whichever team is so fortunate to have him on their roster.”
On the womens’ side, Draft Kings favors ASC newcomer Michela Boarnet, while FanDuel favors ASC OG Joy Halsey. “It will be a classic battle of a rookie against a veteran,” said McBleacher. “I know who my money is on,” he added.
Event #12:
Last but not least is the table tennis competition. For this event, the sportsbooks teamed up on a joint research project. They ran a comprehensive meta-analysis on the backgrounds of every international table tennis champion since the sport originated in England in 1862.
Among their many fascinating findings, they learned that a male or female’s table tennis skill peaks roughly 9-12 months after welcoming a child into the world. ASC conveniently has some parents who meet this criteria.
FanDuel favors Jill and Aaron Shapiro for this event, while DraftKings favors Josiah Gruber and Molly Preston. Regardless of the outcome, both sets of parents will surely inspire each of their daughters to continue their family traditions of leading healthy, active lives.
In closing, FanDuel and DraftKings extend their sincerest apologies to all of those not favored for any of the events. Join us for The 2025 Arlington Olympics to prove them wrong! Registration is now open.
P.S. If you choose to participate in sports betting or gambling, we encourage you to do so responsibly.