Kenny Bednarek’s love of martial arts is improving his ability to relax in the quest for a major sprints gold
It has become a well-worn routine that signals when it’s time to get to work. “I do the same thing every single time I go to the track,” says Kenny Bednarek. “I put the headband on, do my bow and make sure to get my mind right.”
Those rituals herald the arrival of “Kung Fu Kenny”, not so much an alter ego as a state of mind for the two-time Olympic 200m silver medallist – a man who has been doing his level best to make a serious dent in the sprinting world but perhaps hasn’t been lauded in quite the same way as some of his peers.
Bednarek, by his own admission, is: “Not really an attention grabber or seeker, so I kind of fly under the radar.” On one hand, the American is happy with that state of affairs, to do his own thing and just get on with the task at hand but, on the other, he is also still searching for greater professional contentment.
“I feel like, when I step on the track, people know who I am and they know what I’m going to do, so that respect is there, but I still do have a chip on my shoulder,” says the 2022 World Championships 200m silver medallist. “I’m trying to be the best and one of my big motivations is to do my thing and get these gold medals, but that’s what I’ve been short of in the past few years. I’ve always been, I guess, Mr Silver and that’s something that I want to change. I want to be the best and getting second place every single time is not being the best.”
With that in mind, the 26-year-old has spent 2024 getting into the winning habit. At the time of writing, the Philadelphia leg of this year’s Grand Slam Track was yet to unfold but, even before the third chapter of Michael Johnson’s new athletics drama, Bednarek had already emerged as a leading man.
In Kingston, he won both the 100m and 200m before repeating the trick in Miami. He has also helped the USA 4x100m team secure their spot at this summer’s World Championships, part of the line-up that took them to silver behind South Africa at the World Relays in Guangzhou.
That he has been a force to be reckoned with over 200m is hardly a surprise, but the big difference so far in 2025 has been his prowess over the shorter distance. At his Florida training base where he is coached by Dennis Mitchell, he has been hard at work. And it shows.
“I had a lot of momentum built up coming off of the…
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