A botched handoff, a seventh-place finish, and eventual disqualification—Kenny Bednarek’s Paris Olympics experience has been riddled with several hurdles. He placed 7th in the 100m event, despite running a sub-10 time. When it came to the 200m event, he had to settle for a second-place finish yet again. However, the 25-year-old was hoping he could clinch his first Olympic gold in his last event at the Stade de France, the 4x100m relay.

Even though Noah Lyles had to withdraw due to COVID-19, the quartet of Kyree King, Christian Coleman, Fred Kerley, and the Tokyo silver medalist believed they had it in the bag.

However, their journey went from sublime to devastating when Coleman sped off the blocks as soon as the gun went off. But Bednarek made a minor miscalculation and left his position early. The result? A collision between the two, with the latter almost dropping the baton in the process. Now at a complete stop, the 29-year-old ran to the third leg Kyree King, who tried his hardest to close the gap between Team USA and their contenders. Post-race, officials stated that the Bednarek had received the baton outside the designated zone. Team USA had lost out on a medal in the event in a 5th Olympics mishap.

This led to a huge uproar, with many blaming the Olympian for the missed opportunity.

In an Instagram story on August 10, he shed light on how he truly felt about the situation. “Three years ago, I competed in one event at the world stage. This year I had the privilege to run in three.” Even though Kenny has previously confessed that he believes he’s a better athlete now than he was back in Tokyo, he now understands that it’s still a work in progress. “Every race is a lesson in becoming a better athlete whether it’s running faster, training harder, 0r overcoming setbacks.” All it took was one mishap to derail Team USA’s Olympic dream.

Bednarek then expressed his disappointment, “Yesterday was a tough lesson and I know my performance in the 4x100m relay wasn’t what my teammates or many of you expected.” However, he reassures everyone that this was nothing but a minor blip. “I share your frustrations, but I firmly believe TEAM USA consists of the best athletes in the world and we’ll use this experience to come back better, faster, and stronger. ❤️ KB” 

Fred Kerley, who had just clinched a bronze in the 100m event earlier this week, sailed through the anchor leg in an impressive 8.79 seconds. But the mishap earlier cost the team yet another chance at a podium finish. What also fuels the fire is Noah Lyles’ absence and Fred Kerley’s past comments about him. For those of you don’t remember, after the Olympic gold medalist was included in the 2023 World Championships relay race, Kerley had some choice for the USATF, alleging favoritism.

In a now infamous tweet, the 29-year-old had tagged USTAF directly and wrote, “@usatf y’all play that favoritism like mf. Yall like puppets. For sure yes man”. Even former track and field athlete, USA’s Bianca Knight, agreed to the notion, saying, “This is why you guys have to pay attention. Our sport is more about storylines than it is ability. If a big name says they want to get X amount of medals at a major championship, things will be moved around to make that happen. It’s been happening.”

Many will now agree that Lyles’ attendance this time could’ve changed the men’s relay team’s fortune by breaking their unwanted drought. If so, that does put Fred Kerley in a weird situation!

Kenny Bednarek and Co’s bid to end medal drought remained unfinished

The last time Team USA clinched podium in the 4x100m relay was in the 2004 Athens Olympics. Justin Gatlin, Maurice Greene, Coby Miller, and Shawn Crawford secured a second place finish in the event.

However, every Games since then has proven to be unsuccessful for them. Many were hoping Noah Lyles would anchor the team to a victory like he did at the 2023 World Championships. But in a strange twist of fate, he had to sit this one out after contracting COVID-19. Kenny Bednarek was then added to the quartet, replacing Courtney Lindsey. Even though the group seemed confident before the event, everything unraveled soon after.

As the USA team quietly leaves the track, the athletes have made sure to hold their heads high, promising more. Despite the queasy situation he finds himself in, Kerley said, “We are here to perform and do what USA do best. We didn’t get the job done… I don’t think we’re disappointed, we’ve just got to learn from this and keep on going.”

But if you thought drama would ensue the costly botch-up, you’re wrong. While the world is pointing fingers at the quartet, the teammates have got each other’s backs. Christian Coleman was as direct as one can be: “I’m not sure you want me to point fingers or something like that,” Coleman said. “I think as a team, as a unit, we just didn’t get it done today. That’s as simple as that.” Fred Kerley, on the other hand, warned reporters saying, “If y’all say something stupid, we ain’t talking. I’m just going to let y’all know that now.”

Kyree King seemed a bit less defensive and instead lamented the failure. “We came out here and we had the mindset of no risk, no reward. So, we went out there and went big. It didn’t happen.”

While the men’s team left the purple tracks empty handed, the women’s 4x100m team came in all guns blazing for America. Melissa Jefferson, Twanisha Terry, Gabby Thomas and Sha’Carri Richardson smoked their contenders, snagging an Olympic gold with their season-best time of 41.78 seconds.

This was a major upgrade compared to the 2020 Tokyo Summer Games. They came very close to overtaking a dominant Jamaican team, but had to settle for a silver instead. What are your thoughts on the incident? Let us know in the comments!