In Pictures: Kenny Bednarek and girlfriend Sharmila Nicollet explore the Philippines following trip to Indonesia

American track athlete Kenny Bednarek recently shared glimpses of his time with his girlfriend, Sharmila Nicollet from their Philippines vacations. This comes just a few months after Bednarek concluded a successful year.

In 2024, Bednarek performed impressively in his specialization 200m event and won the Olympic silver and Diamond League title over this distance. Following this success, the 26-year-old has taken a break from the track and has been spending his vacations in Bali (Indonesia) and the Philippines.

Bednarek took to his Instagram handle to share a picture with Nicollet from their visit to Cebu, located in the Central Visayas region of the Philippines. In the picture, the two-time Olympic silver medalist can be seen donning a pink bucket cap. On the other hand, his girlfriend was seen wearing a pink floral dress and complemented it with a pearl necklace and purple sunglasses.

Here is the picture:

Screenshot of Bendnarek Instagram story (Image via: Bednarek Instagram handle)

Kenny Bednarek and Sharmila Nicollet met each other in 2020 and have been going strong ever since. Nicollet is a professional golfer of Indian origin. She entered the professional circuit in 2009 and has 11 career wins to her name and has also been named Women's Golf Association of India's best player of the year in 2010.

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Kenny Bednarek credited his girlfriend Sharmila Nicollet for his successful endeavors on the track

Bednarek during the 400m hurdles event of the 2021 Lausanne Diamond League meet (Image via: Getty)

Kenny Bednarek recently credited Sharmila Nicollet for his success on the track circuit. This came just a few days after the Oklahoma native clinched his second silver at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

In an episode of "The Running Effect Podcast" (released on August 21), Bednarek said Nicollet's athletic background has helped him immensely to develop on a professional level. He also said that her girlfriend had asked him to step up his performance to fulfill the Olympic goals. He said (at 32:52):

"She is the biggest reason why I have been so successful, just because she's a professional athlete as well... And meeting her, it was kind of like, hey, I want to be an Olympian. And then she laughed at my face saying, well, you gotta step it up."

Kenny Bednarek has established himself as one of the most prominent names in the track world in recent times. He has won laurels in major events such as the Olympics and World Championships and has also been crowned the Diamond League champion twice in his career.