NO ONE WANTS TO BE famous for finishing 2nd. Not Adlai Stevenson or Susan Lucci. Not Ralph Metcalfe or Jim Ryun.
And certainly not Kenny Bednarek.
Narratives sometimes override facts, and a case could be made that Bednarek’s story is misrepresented. He is not the only sprinter finishing 2nd. Or the miffed runner-up pushing a rival. Or the Kung Fu Kenny wearing a headband.
More accurately, he could be characterized as one defying odds to emerge as a sprinter who could win not just one, or two, but three gold medals in the upcoming World Championships.
After running to his first national title — against type, in the 100m —Bednarek said: “It’s about damn time, you know? I’ve been 2nd for a very long time.”
The 26-year-old had finished 2nd 7 times in the 100 or 200 at national and global championships since ’21. Granted, his résumé is distinguished — two silver medals at the Olympics and one at World Championships — but not what he sought.
Grand Slam Track supplied a platform to race the 100 more regularly. Although Bednarek hasn’t collected the $300,000 he was supposed to earn for being 6–0 in three meets, the series paid off otherwise.
“I always knew I had the capability of doing it,” he says. “I just needed to believe in myself. And this year, I finally started living up to my expectations.”
At the USA Championships, despite feeling leg cramps at 60m, Bednarek won the 100 in 9.79 — tying Noah Lyles’ PR from the Paris Olympics. Among Americans, only Tyson Gay, Justin Gatlin, Christian Coleman and Fred Kerley have ever sprinted faster.
Five broke 9.90, something that had happened only once previously (in the Paris final). Bednarek was 7th at Paris in 9.88, a disappointment that left him in tears.
“Sometimes when you’re running at high speed, you’ve gotta find a balance to where you’re not tensing up too much,” Bednarek says. “You tense up, you start braking, decelerating, and people can pass you here and there. Or you’re not really getting that top-end speed that I usually have.
“I didn’t have it in the final because I did something completely different, I wasn’t relaxed. That’s what I mean, wanting it too much.”
Later, in the 200 at Eugene, Lyles came from behind to beat Bednarek, 19.63–19.67. Those are the two fastest times in the world this year.
Lyles stared at Bednarek to his left as he crossed the finish, then drifted into Lyles’ lane. Bednarek shoved Lyles, who backpedaled, raised his hands and bobbed up and down as a boxer would.
The spat carried over to the trackside interview with NBC’s Lewis Johnson. In the interview zone, Bednarek says Lyles did not show good character.
“What he said didn’t matter, it’s just what he did,” Bednarek feels. “Unsportsmanlike shit, and I don’t deal with that. It’s a respect factor. He’s fresh. Last time we lined it up, I beat him, that’s all I can say. Next time we line up, I’m going to win. That’s all that matters.”
Lyles did not race in the semis or final of the 100, so the 200 was his third race at Eugene. In his fifth race of the meet, it was the first loss this year for Bednarek, who had been 10–0 in Q rounds and finals.
Three days after the incident, Bednarek told CNN he and Lyles had an hourlong conservation and came to a resolution.
Bednarek has been elite so long, it is perhaps easy to forget how unconventional his pathway has been.
Born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, he and twin brother Ian were adopted and relocated to Rice Lake, Wisconsin (pop. 9000). Football, not track, was his favorite sport in high school.
“But when I’d get tackled by two or three people, I was always thinking, ‘I’ve got a season coming up,’” he told Wisconsin Public Radio. “I got to make sure I stay healthy.”
He scored 17 touchdowns as a wide receiver and kick returner, and Rice Lake won state titles in football and track when he was a senior. He totaled 7 individual state titles in Wisconsin, not exactly a state renowned for sprinters. He led all preps nationally with a time of 20.43 at 200 in ’18.
Then it was on to Indian Hills Community College in Ottumwa, Iowa. That’s where, as a frosh, he attracted global attention. He clocked 19.49 (with a 6.1 mps wind) in the semis of the JUCO nationals. The next day, into a wind (-0.8), he won the 200 in 19.82 and also the 400 in 44.73.
Only one other man, Isaac Makwala of Botswana, had ever run sub-20 and sub-45 on the same day, and the 20-year-old Bednarek was the youngest to do so.
At USATF he pulled up in the 200 with a hamstring injury but qualified for the ’19 WC via his 19.82. He didn’t make it out of the heats, but his pro career had begun.
After the pandemic year, the prolific Bednarek ran 12 sub-20 times in ’21 (the most ever) and at the Tokyo Olympics took silver in 19.68 behind Andre de Grasse. Then, after a ’22 world silver (behind Lyles), Bednarek struck silver again (behind Letsile Tebogo) in Paris.
He began this season on April 04 by winning the 100 in 10.07 (-1.3) at Kingston, Jamaica, beating Oblique Seville by 0.01.
“That was the moment when I started thinking about being the national champion,” Bednarek says. “I just needed to have that confidence, and I just needed to make sure I execute my race.”
He belongs to a Florida training group coached by Dennis Mitchell. Teammates include Courtney Lindsey, Coleman and Kyree King, who went 4-6-7 in the 200 at Eugene. Bednarek says the difference this year has been improvement in starts, sometimes in workouts even matching the fast-starting Coleman, a 2-time world indoor 60 champion.
“Because I always knew I had the top-end speed,” Bednarek reveals. “That’s something I’ve been trying to get for the last four or five years.
“If I can relax in the race, then nobody is going to beat me.”
If he can manage a 100/200 sweep, he can patch up relations enough with Lyles to team up for a third gold in the 4×1 in Tokyo.
