Level, yet still at the start (5)
I believe the answer is:
evens
'level' is the definition.
(tied or with an equal chance of winning)
'yet still at the start' is the wordplay.
'yet' becomes 'even' (synonyms).
'at the start' suggests taking the first letters.
The initial letter of 'still' is 's'.
'even'+'s'='EVENS'
(Other definitions for evens that I've seen before include "Price" , "Likelihood" , "These are odds, strangely" , "50-50 odds" , "Chances" .)