The 2026 Winter Olympic Games were supposed to be William Dandjinou’s coming-out party, but things just haven’t gone his way to this point across most competitions. However, the Canadian short track speed skating star can salvage these 2026 Olympic Games with strong showings in his final two events: the men’s 500m and the men’s 5,000m team relay.
He owns the second-shortest odds in the 500m event and is part of a Canada team that is heavily favoured in the 5,000m at most online sportsbooks.
To this point, Dandjinou only has a silver medal to his credit at these Olympics after his strong effort in the mixed team relay event last week. He finished a disappointing fifth in his signature race, the 1,500m, on Saturday after landing just off the podium in fourth in the 1,000m last Thursday. The Quebec native was among the betting favourites in both of those events and was expected to capture up to five medals in these Olympics leading up to the Games in Italy.
Let’s take a look at the betting odds for Dandjinou’s final two events at the 2026 Olympics.
Men’s short track 500m odds (Feb. 18)
| Skater | Winner | Podium Finish (1-3) |
| Jens van’t Wout (Netherlands) | +125 | -1000 |
| William Dandjinou (Canada) | +250 | -335 |
| Steven Dubois (Canada) | +650 | +110 |
| Xiaojun Lin (South Korea) | +1100 | +175 |
| Melle van’t Wout (Netherlands) | +1400 | +300 |
| Shaoang Liu (Hungary) | +1400 | +300 |
| Teun Boer (Netherlands) | +1400 | +300 |
| Pietro Sighel (Italy) | +2000 | +400 |
| Andrew Heo (United States) | +2500 | +650 |
| Denis Nikisha (Kazakhstan) | +4000 | +900 |
The men’s 500m event will be one of the premier Olympic sports on Wednesday, with the quarterfinals getting underway at 2:15 ET, followed by the semifinal heats and the finals at 3:30 p.m. ET.
Dandjinou (+250) has the second-shortest odds behind van’t Wout (+125) to win the gold medal, with his Canadian teammate Steven Dubois (+650) also expected to post a strong result with a podium finish (+110).
Will Dandjinou to win men’s 500m event
Men’s 5,000m relay outright odds (Feb. 20)
The Canadian quartet of Dandjinou, Dubois, Felix Roussel, and Maxime Laoun won their semifinal heat to advance to the “A” final of the men’s 5,000m relay on Friday. Dandjinou anchored the squad in the semis, making a late charge from second position on the final two laps to lift Canada to the final.
Canada is a big favourite to prevail in the event with -166 odds over Korea Republic (+350). Anything less than a gold medal will be a serious disappointment for the Canadians.
