The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

Steven Gardiner, still celebrating his triumph in the men’s 400 metres at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, dropped down to his first love in the 200m yesterday at the Wanda Diamond League. But the double Bahamian national record holder had to settle for third place.

The 25-year-old Gardiner, in closing out his season in Lausanne, Switzerland, clocked a wind-aided 20.11 seconds out of lane seven. But he couldn’t hold off the American duo of Kenneth Bednarek, who stopped the clock in 19.65 with former quarter-miler Fred Ferley, second in 19.77 from lane six and five respectively.

Going into his first race since he captured the men’s 400m title in a season’s best of 43.85 on August 5 in Tokyo, Japan, Gardiner was hoping to clip his season’s best of 20.24 that he did on March 19 in Carolina.

The native of Abaco, who first started competing in the 200m under coach Anthony Williams, posted the national record of 19.75 in Coral Gables, Florida on April 7, 2018. He also holds the national record in the 400m of 43.48 on October 4, 2019 in winning the World Championship title in Doha, Qatar.

As the only Bahamian competing in the meet, Gardiner didn’t collect any points for the Wanda League as this was his first race on the 13-race series that will end with the final in Zurich, Switzerland, September 8-9 where athletes will have a chance to be crowned the Wanda Diamond League champion in their chosen discipline.

Bednarek, the leader of the men’s 200m standings with 31 points over the Canadian pair of Aaron Brown (30 points) and Andre De Grasse (21 points), said he expected to run a much faster time, considering that Gardiner was entered in the race.

“I was really hoping to PR tonight as I know this is a fast track, but the wind was too strong,” said Bednarek, who won the silver in his lifetime best of 19.68 behind De Grasse’s gold in a national record of 19.62. I didn’t feel the cold too much until we had the false start, then it started to affect me a bit. I knew that I could not sleep on Gardiner and must show him respect, as he is a great competitor.”

Leading up to the road to Zurich, Bednarek said he will compete in Paris on Saturday before he does a training camp in the USA.

While home with Olympic women’s 400m gold medallist Shaunae Miller-Uibo a week after the Olympics, he indicated that Switzerland would have been his final meet for the year before he starts to prepare for defence of his 400m title at the 2022 World Championships in Eugene, Oregon, August 6-15.

The Commonwealth Games is also on the schedule and will cross over running from July 28 to August 8 in Birmingham, England, but it’s more likely that Gardiner’s focus will be defending his title in Eugene where there is also prize money on the line.

Gardiner, coached by American Gary Evans in Clermont, Florida, was unavailable for comments in Lausanne.