"Breaking limits, setting new standards"- Kenny Bednarek oozes confidence after setting 200m personal best at Zurich Diamond League

By Puneet Tripathi

Modified Sep 08, 2024 06:45 GMT

Kenny Bednarek had an impressive outing at the Zurich Diamond League, as he set a new personal best time of 19.57 seconds to win the 200m event. The race was an exciting affair, with Bednarek finishing just 0.02 seconds ahead of Olympic champion Letsile Tebogo.

The 25-year-old entered the tournament in Zurich at the back of a third-place finish at the Silesia Diamond League and secured his first race win since May 2024, when he won the 200m event at the Prefontaine Classic.

Bednarek, in a recent post on the X (formerly Twitter), shared a few pictures of himself from the Zurich Diamond League, with his caption reading:

"Breaking limits, setting new standards".

Kenny Bednarek wins silver medal in 200m race at 2024 Paris Olympics

Kenny Bednarek at the 2024 Paris Olympics (Image via Getty)

Kenny Bednarek qualified for the Paris Olympics with strong performances in the men's 100m and 200m races at the 2024 US Olympic Track & Field Trials. He qualified for the quadrennial games by finishing second in both events, with timings of 9.87s and 19.59s in the respective finals.

Bednarek won silver in the men's 200-meter sprint with a time of 19.62 seconds at the 2024 Paris Olympics. He finished behind Botswana's Letsile Tebogo, who clocked a personal best of 19.46 seconds. This was the American's second successive medal in the discipline, having clinched the silver in Tokyo 2020 as well.

Bednarek, however, did not fare as well in the 100m event, which he started by winning his heat after clocking 9.97 seconds. The 25-year-old then reached the final after taking 9.93 seconds to finish his semifinal, where he finished fourth. In the final race, Bednarek clocked 9.88 seconds but this could only see him finish seventh, ahead of Oblique Seville.

The American has had some decent performances so far in the 2024 season, winning a total of six races. His first victory came at the Miramar Invitational, triumphing in the 200m event, before winning the 100m races at the Tom Jones Memorial and the Kip Keino Classic.

Before winning the Prefontaine Classic, Kenny Bednarek secured his first Diamond League race win of 2024 in Doha, clocking 19.67 seconds in the 200m event.