AFTER WINNING THE 100 impressively in 9.85, Kenny Bednarek came to the 200 brimming with confidence. The furlong has always been his better event, giving him silvers at the Olympics (twice) and the Worlds (twice).
But winning? That hasn’t yet come his way in a championship at this level. But as we said, his confidence was high. A few days earlier, he announced he was looking for a massive PR. “The World Record — for the 200 in particular — I feel like I would be closer to attaining that right now.”
He showed no signs of fatigue after the two 100 races the day before. In the 200 heats, he easily led the first, running a comfortable-looking 19.86 ahead of Courtney Lindsey’s 19.89.
The final came 140 minutes later. Bednarek in 6, surrounded by Olympic champions Letsile Tebogo (lane 5) and Andre De Grasse (7). Lindsey was in 4.
Bednarek caught a great start, churning through the turn with incredible power, building a noticeable margin over Tebogo. He passed 100 in 10.16, with Lindsey at 10.21 and Tebogo 10.24.
The momentum that he took to the straightaway proved too much for his competitors to challenge. Tebogo fought hard to get ahead of Lindsey but the two drew no closer to Bednarek.
He hit the finish in 19.52, running into the faintest of headwinds at 0.1. The world-leading performance makes him No. 7 in history and No. 4 among Americans, cutting 0.05 from the PR he set at Zürich 2 years ago.
Tebogo (19.76) and Lindsey (19.79) ran season bests, with South Africa’s Sinesipho Dambile (19.91) and De Grasse (19.92) also breaking 20.
Said Bednarek, “I am just happy to be here and performance-wise I give myself an A+ because of the couple of things I have been working on, and I put them together today and earlier in the week.
“This was the year where I focused on making progress. I need to look back at what I did overall but I believe I did well. Coming home with two wins [and $300K] in Budapest is amazing.”
The others weren’t as happy.
Tebogo: “I’m going to go back home to reset and to refocus for Beijing. It’s not easy to take it when you lose but you have to take it and move onto the next high.”
Lindsey: “I’m very disappointed. I came to win because I know I am capable of more, and I feel like I should have executed the race better. I have to look back at what went wrong and fix it.”
UC MEN’S 200 RESULTS
(September 13; wind –0.1)
1. Kenny Bednarek (US) 19.52 PR (WL, AL) (7, x W; 4, =8 A) (10.16/9.36)
2. Letsile Tebogo (Bot) 19.76 (10.24/9.52)
3. Courtney Lindsey (US) 19.79 (10.21/9.58)
4. Sinesipho Dambile (SA) 19.91 (10.27/9.64)
5. Andre De Grasse (Can) 19.92 (10.26/9.66)
6. Bryan Levell (Jam) 20.07 (10.27/9.80)
7. Aaron Brown (Can) 20.23 (10.51/9.72)
8. Udodi Onwuzurike (Ngr) 20.45 (10.47/9.98)
Heats (September 13)
I(0.1)–1. Bednarek 19.86; 2. Lindsey 19.89; 3. Tebogo 19.96; 4. Onwuzurike 20.16; 5. Jose Figueroa (PR) 20.46; 6. Kyree King (US) 20.57; 7. Timothé Mumenthaler (Swi) 20.61; 8. Alexander Ogando (DR) 20.64.
II(-0.2)–1. Dambile 19.80; 2. De Grasse 19.87; 3. Levell 20.08; 4. Brown 20.08; 5. Makanakaishe Charamba (Zim) 20.13; 6. Christopher Taylor (Jam) 20.36; 7. Yassine Hssine (Mor) 20.37; 8. Brandon Hicklin (US) 20.49.
