Olympic medalist Kenny Bednarek shares anticipation ahead of World Athletics Relays 2024

Kenny Bednarek, the 2020 Olympics silver medalist in the 200m, recently shared his anticipation ahead of the World Athletics Relays 2024, scheduled on May 4 and May 5 in Nassau, the Bahamas.

Bednarek was picked in the USA squad for the World Athletics Relays, set to commence at the Thomas Robinson Stadium, as the national governing body USATF announced the squad for the prestigious event on April 17. Besides Bednarek, the 4x100m roster also comprises six-time world champion Noah Lyles, Courtney Lindsey, Kyree, Kendal Williams, and Pjai Austin.

In the five editions of the World Athletics Relays, the United States has collected two golds and one silver medal, setting a championship record in 2015 in the men’s 4x100m relay event.

Ahead of the tournament’s sixth edition in the Bahamas, Bednarek took to his X (formerly Twitter) to share his excitement for the event. He did so by sharing multiple images of him when he competed in the elite men's 4x100m at the Texas Relays 2023, along with Christian Coleman, King, and Marvin Bracy, captioning it:

“You know what time it is 🇧🇸 #Worldrelays”

So far, Kenny Bednarek has competed in three individual sprint disciplines in his 2024 outdoor season, 200m at the Miramar Invitational, 100m at the Tom Jones Memorial and Kip Keino Classic 2024. At the Kip Keino Classic, the 25-year-old won the 100m by registering a sensational 9.91s time (2.2m/s) above the legal wind of 2.0m/s.

At the Miramar Invitational 2024, he upset the reigning world indoor champion Coleman by clocking a time of 20.35s in his 200m season opener. Earlier, in his 100m season opener at the Tom Jones Invitational, he narrowly lost to Lyles by just five-thousandths of a second, despite both athletes clocking the same time.

A look into Kenny Bednarek’s achievements

Kenny Bednarek celebrates after winning the Men's 200m during the Golden Gala Pietro Mennea 2022. (Photo by Tullio M. Puglia/Getty Images

Kenny Bednarek made headlines after winning the silver medal at the Tokyo Olympics 2020 in the 200m with a personal best time of 19.68s, only behind Canada’s Andre De Grasse (19.62s), and just ahead of Noah Lyles (19.74s).

Earlier, he had made it to the USA Olympic team for the Tokyo Olympics 2020 after finishing second at the U.S. Olympic Track & Field Trials 2020 with a time of 19.78. He narrowly missed out on the 100m team by a whisker, coming in fourth at the trials, clocking 9.89s.

At the World Athletics Championships 2022, he once again rose to the spotlight after winning the silver medal in the 200m with a time of 19.77s. In addition, he won the Diamond League 2021 over the same distance by winning the Zurich final leg with a 19.70s.