2025 USATF Outdoors: Kenny Bednarek Finally Gets His Moment in the 100 Meters, by Deji Ogeyingbo

2025 USATF Outdoors: Kenny Bednarek Finally Gets His Moment in the 100 Meters, by Deji Ogeyingbo

Kenny Bednarek has spent the better part of his professional career doing the chasing. He isn’t a household name in the US compared to the likes of Noah Lyles, Christian Coleman, and Trayvon Bromell. Those are the athletes who usually fill the headlines.

Bednarek, known for his consistency in the 200m, quietly built one of the sport’s more impressive resumes, often finishing in the medals but not quite at the top. On Friday night in Eugene, that changed. With a wind-legal personal best of 9.79s, Bednarek claimed his first U.S. title in the 100 meters at the 2025 USATF Outdoor Championships.

The time was not only the fastest of his career, but it also tied him with Maurice Greene and Noah Lyles as the sixth-fastest American in history and placed him 12th on the all-time world list. For Bednarek, the win was a long-awaited breakthrough in an event he once treated as secondary.

The 200m had always been his focus. It was the event that brought him Olympic silver medals in 2021 and 2024, and it was the distance where he developed a reputation for poise and power in the final straight. But the 100m, with its tighter margins and its more competitive field, had always been a work in progress.

This has been a season where Bednarek has looked more in control of his racing than ever before. He came into the championships undefeated, and a wind-assisted 9.79 earlier in the summer hinted at what was coming. That run gave him confidence, but it didn’t carry the same weight as Friday’s result.

Winning a U.S. title in the men’s 100 meters is not a small thing. It means facing a depth of talent that rivals any field in global…