The course of sprinter Kenny Bednarek has really been a lot from easy or customary. Plenty of uphill climbs up, additionally.
His experiences, nevertheless– foster therapy, being embraced, going the world college path, often outweighed– has really simply included energy to his modify self-importance, “Kung Fu Kenny.” That variation of him arises when he tips about the observe and slides on his trademark headband.
That variation of him checks out his 2 Olympic silver medals in 2 means– ideas, sure, of the success he’s had, but an incentive for the success nonetheless but to achieve.
This interval, he’s honed his escape of the start blocks and took his nourishment to at least one extra diploma to rework silver coatings proper into gold. That begins maybe in September on the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo and afterward on the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
“I know I have the capability of being a champion,” said Bednarek, that races this weekend break in Kingston, Jamaica, on the inaugural event of Grand Slam Track, a brand-new professional group. “I’ve always just been hungry.”
Born in Tulsa, Okla., he and his fraternal double sibling, Ian, have been embraced out of foster therapy at 4 years of ages by Mary Ann Bednarek, that had really at present absorbed 2 ladies. The family transferred to Rice Lake in northwest Wisconsin when he was 12
“I had a lot of issues when I was a kid,” the 26-year-old Kenny Bednarek mentioned. “My mother took a lot time to assist me grow to be the individual I’m right this moment. I imply, with out her love, care and help, I don’t know the place I’d be.
” I is probably not ‘Kung Fu Kenny’ I could possibly be someplace stranded. She’s the massive cause I’m proper right here right this moment.”
Track, too. Because on the observe, Bednarek might let his thoughts wander, to the locations his ft may in the future take him.
“Track was simply the portal that allow me do not hesitate,” defined Bednarek, who additionally performed soccer. “It was simply me versus the clock.”
From Indian Hills to Olympics
Bednarek didn’t go to a big-time observe powerhouse out of highschool. Instead, he spent a season at Indian Hills Community College in Iowa.
That one season, although, confirmed Bednarek’s huge potential. He gained 200 and 400 nationwide titles on the 2019 NJCAA DI Outdoor Track & Field Championships.
Still, he’s been largely missed in a crowded discipline of high-profile sprinters that features Americans standouts Noah Lyles, Fred Kerley and Erriyon Knighton, together with Andre De Grasse of Canada and Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo.
Playing second-fiddle used to hassle Bednarek and particularly his alter ego, “Kung Fu Kenny”
” I had a very massive chip on my shoulder,” he mentioned. “It was bothersome.”
Winning medals solved that. Maybe not all the time the favorite in a race, Bednarek all the time discovered a solution to be within the combine.
Like on the Tokyo Games in 2021, when he completed runner-up to De Grasse within the 200. Or a yr later at world championships when he took silver behind Lyles. At the Paris Games final summer time, he gained one other silver within the 200 behind Tebogo.
Last summer time’s medal stays particular as a result of his mother was watching within the stands. She was so joyful for him, crying tears of pleasure, as they embraced after the race.
“Just to be able to radiate brilliant and have my mother witness that, it suggested a great deal,” he said.
1 p.c a lot better
< p design=” margin-left:0 in; margin-right:0 in”>These days, he’s understanding in Winter Garden, Fla., underneath coach Dennis Mitchell. His coaching group contains Sha’Carri Richardson and Christian Coleman.
“We simply have this iron-sharpens-iron mindset,” mentioned Bednarek, who’s sponsored by Nike. “We’re all making each various other much better.”
His prime job this spring is sharpening his begins out of blocks.
“If I can obtain that down, I seem like no one is mosting likely to have the ability to defeat me,” mentioned Bednarek, whose prime time within the 200 is nineteen.57 seconds. “I’m constantly attempting to include something that makes me 1% much better.”
For his dedication to vitamin — he’s eradicated gluten — and general well being, he credit Sharmila Nicollet, knowledgeable golfer from India who he’s been relationship since 2020.
” I made use of to imagine, ‘Oh, I can rest whenever I desire, play computer game whenever I desire, and I’ll be nice,”‘ Bednarek recounted. “She opened my eyes. It resembled, ‘OK, this is just how you come to be an Olympian and a medallist. This is what you have actually reached do.’”
Grand Slam Track launching
< p design=” margin-left:0 in; margin-right:0 in”>Bednarek is among the many runners of all distances – and hurdlers — collaborating this weekend in Grand Slam Track, which was based by Hall of Famer Michael Johnson.
The new league contains stops in Kingston, Miami (May 2-4), Philadelphia (May 30-June 1) and Los Angeles (June 27-29). In Kingston, Bednarek will face Kerley & Co. within the 100 on Friday and once more within the 200 on Saturday.
“It’s an amazing possibility simply to be able to represent this organization,” Bednarek mentioned. “It’s everything about rate, characters and informing fantastic tales.”
Like his.
< p design=” margin-left:0 in; margin-right:0 in”>One query he always receives: What’s the story behind his alter-ego “Kung Fu Kenny?” Bednarek mentioned it actually stems from his love of anime. His favorite character is Naruto, a younger ninja who’s searching for recognition.
“He’s a really consistent personality and does not surrender whatever,” Bednarek defined. ” I kind of reverberate with that mentioned. Whatever you want to attain, it would actually not pertain to you– it’s essential to assist it. You have to go get hold of it.”
