"That's not happening. That's crazy" - Kenny Bednarek claims LeBron James would be a 'freak athlete' if he runs sub-5 minutes mile

American sprinting champion Kenny Bednarek has claimed that basketball legend LeBron James running a sub-5-minute mile is not possible. He said this during The Running Effect Podcast recently.

Bednarek made waves at the recently concluded Paris Olympics, where he reclaimed his 200m silver with a time of 19.62 seconds, 0.16 seconds shy of Botswana's Letsile Tebogo gold medal-winning time of 19.46 seconds. Bednarek also competed in the historic 100m finals, which witnessed all the runners clocking sub-10s, and he placed seventh after clocking in a time of 9.88 seconds.

He was also a part of the American quartet of Christian Coleman, Fred Kerley, and Kyree King, who was handed a disqualification for running out of the zone during the 4x100m relay final.

Following his Paris Olympics campaign, Kenny Bednarek appeared on The Running Effect Podcast on Spotify on Wednesday, August 21, where he discussed various aspects of track running with the host, Dominic Schlueter. The two also mentioned running a mile, where the American runner revealed his best time of 5 minutes and 30 seconds.

Schlueter then brought up an online debate that suggested that LeBron James could run a mile in under five minutes. To this, the 25-year-old replied:

"No, no, just that condition is different; I mean, you got basketball where you're like back and forth, back and forth. I don't think he'd be able to do that; he had to start out young too just in order to get to that position... No way, I don't believe that; if he did, he's definitely a freak athlete." [18:00 onwards]

"That's crazy; people don't really understand exactly what you have to do in order to even get to that shape, but yeah, I mean, that's not happening," he added. [19:26]

---

"Maybe when I turn 30, I can go to NFL" - Kenny Bednarek on his alternative career choice

Kenny Bednarek at the Olympics Games Paris 2024: Day 14 - Source: Getty

Dominic Schlueter also asked if Kenny Bednarek ever considered pursuing American football, considering his experience with the sport during his junior and senior years.

He replied:

"I feel like with my work ethic, I definitely did. Because, I mean, honestly, that was something that I wanted to pursue. I mean, I love track, but when I was younger I was also like, oh, I dream about being in the NFL one day." [20:48 onwards]

He added:

"I feel like if I stuck with football, I would have had an opportunity of trying to be in the NFL. I mean, first of all, I got speed. The only thing that I really needed to work on was everything else, you know, agility, hands, and then just running the route tree... Sometimes I joke around with my coach and my girlfriend maybe when I turn 30, I can go to NFL."

Kenny Bednarek had shared during the Journey to Gold Zone Podcast in May that his first love was football.