February 1, 2022
Add the men’s 300 metres indoor world record to Steven Gardiner’s list of accolades.
As he lowered his Bahamian national record of 32.06 seconds he clocked on January 14 in Birmingham, Alabama, Gardiner shattered American Noah Lyles’ previous world-best mark from 31.87 in 2017 when he ran an impressive 31.56 at the South Carolina Invite in Columbia, South Carolina, on Friday.
Nathan Allen, competing for Puma, was a distant second in 32.54.
The feat by Gardiner, the 26-year-old Murphy Town, Abaco native, led a list of elite and collegiate athletes as they represented their various track clubs and collegiate teams in action around the United States over the weekend.
“I feel amazing for it. We were training really hard in the fall and now I have the confidence in what I could do, seeing that this is just January and it’s been an amazing time for me,” Gardiner said.
“I’m in the best shape of my life. This has been the best offseason that I’ve had this past fall and so I’m just looking forward to this season.”
Like he has done all of his career, Gardiner will skip the World Indoor Championships. He said his enormous height of 6-feet, 3-inches poses problems for him running the tight bends indoors where the track covers one lap over 200m.
So while he will not run in the World Indoors Championship March 18-20 in Belgrade, Serbia, Gardiner will now prepare himself for the World Outdoor Championships in Eugene, Oregon, August 6-15. He will be going after his second consecutive gold medal, having won the title in 2019 in Doha, Qatar following an upgrade from his silver in London, England, in 2017. He also won the gold medal at the delayed 2020 Tokyo Olympics in August.
“I will just continue to work hard and get ready for the World Outdoors,” Gardiner said. “World Indoors is not the big picture for me. The big picture for me is the World Outdoors and so I don’t want to run in the World Indoors and risk any injury.
“I know once I put my race together, it’s going to be a crazy outdoor championship. I just want to go out there and have some fun and not put any pressure on myself. I just want to cross the line as the champion.”
Without any schedule yet set for the outdoor season, Gardiner thanked the Bahamian people for supporting him. Although his time was a shocker, Gardiner said he knew he could do it, based on the training he got from coach Gary Evans.
“Records don’t last forever, so I will cherish this,” said Gardiner, who spent some considerable time reviewing the tape as he reflected on his performance. “Everybody was excited for me, including my coach, so I’m really pleased with what I did.”
Originally published in the Tribune newspaper, Bahamas.