Steven Gardiner (born 12 September 1995) is a Bahamian

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

sprinter competing in the

400 metres The 400 metres, or 400-meter dash, is a sprint event in track and field competitions. It has been featured in the athletics (sport), athletics programme at the Summer Olympics since 1896 for men and since 1964 for women. On a standard outdoor runn ...

and

200 metres The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400 metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run the race. A slightl ...

. He is the current

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and

world champion A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

in the 400 m, and also won the silver medal at the 2017 World Championships in that event. His winning time of 43.48 s from the 2019 World Championships is the Bahamian record and makes him the sixth-fastest man in the history of the event. Gardiner also owns the Bahamian records in the outdoor 300 m and 200 m, with times of 31.83 s and 19.75 s respectively, and the world best in the indoor 300 m at 31.56 s.

Early life

Gardiner was born in Murphy Town,

Central Abaco Central Abaco is one of the districts of the Bahamas, in the Abaco Islands. The district contains the largest town in the Abacos, Marsh Harbour, which is the commerce centre for the islands. Some of the more noticeable settlements are: * Litt ...

, in the Bahamas. During his teenage years Gardiner was a competitive

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

player, but also ran track and field. Gardiner wanted to transition to track and field in the shorter sprints, but his high school coach said he was too tall, so he became a 400 m runner. He went to Moores Island All-Age School, where he was a part of the Exterminators Track and Field Club, Coached by Pastor Anthony Williams.

Moore's Island Moore's Island is one of the districts of the Bahamas, districts of the Bahamas, on the Abaco Islands. Moore's Island is a cay, to the west of the main island of Abaco. It is approximately long and wide. It has two settlements, Hard Bargain, w ...

is a small island off the coast of mainland

Abaco Islands Abaco is a variant Italian form of the Biblical name "Habakkuk" (but normally Abacùc or Abacucco). Abaco may refer to: People *Evaristo Felice Dall'Abaco (1675–1742), Italian composer and violinist *Joseph Abaco (1710–1805), Belgian compose ...

Career

Gardiner competed in the sport in his teenage years and ran in the 400 m at the national championships in 2013. He entered three events at the 2014 CARIFTA Games: he only managed fourth in the individual 200 m but claimed a silver in the relay and a bronze in the relay. He marked himself as one of the Bahamas' top young athletes with a win at the Bahamian junior championships in June of that year. An appearance at the

2014 World Junior Championships in Athletics The 2014 World Junior Championships in Athletics was an international athletics competition for athletes qualifying as juniors (born 1995 or later) which was held at the Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, USA, on 22–27 July 2014. A total of 44 a ...

resulted in a semi-final run in the 200 m and a sixth-place finish in the 4 × 400 m. His first senior medal came at the

2015 IAAF World Relays The 2015 IAAF World Relays was the second edition of the biennial, global track and field relay competition between nations. As in the previous year, it was held in May in Nassau, Bahamas. Apart from contesting for the Golden Baton for the best t ...

, held on home turf, where he gave American competitor

Jeremy Wariner Jeremy Matthew Wariner (born January 31, 1984) is a retired American track athlete specializing in the 400 meters. He has won four Olympic medals (three gold, one silver) and six World Championships medals. He is the fourth fastest competitor in ...

a close run in the relay, helping the Bahamas to the silver medal alongside

Ramon Miller Ramon Miller (born 17 February 1987, Nassau) is a Bahamian sprinter. He was inducted into the Dickinson State University Hall of Fame class of 2020. Career He was part of the Bahamas' silver medal-winning team in the men's 4 × 400 m relay ...

Michael Mathieu Michael Mathieu (born 24 June 1984) is a retired Bahamian sprinter from Freeport, Grand Bahama who specialized in the 200 metres and 400 metres. He was part of the Bahamian silver medal-winning team in the men's 4×400 metres relay at the 20 ...

and

Chris Brown Christopher Maurice Brown (born May 5, 1989) is an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and actor. According to '' Billboard'', Brown is one of the most successful R&B singers of his generation, having often been referred to by many contempo ...

. He began to focus on the 400 m in the 2015 season, which proved a successful transition. He rapidly improved to become the youngest Bahamian ever, at 19 years old, to run the distance in under 45 seconds and moved up to fourth on the Bahamian all-time list with a best of 44.64 seconds. He set the time at the

Bislett Games The Bislett Games is an annual track and field meeting at the Bislett Stadium in Oslo, Norway. Previously one of the IAAF Golden League events, it is now part of the Diamond League. History The first international athletics meeting at Bislet ...

, which brought him victory on his debut on the

IAAF Diamond League The Diamond League is an annual series of elite track and field athletic competitions comprising fourteen of the best invitational athletics meetings. The series sits in the top tier of the World Athletics (formerly known as the IAAF) one-day mee ...

circuit, finishing ahead of

Matthew Hudson-Smith Matthew Hudson-Smith (born 26 October 1994) is a British track and field sprinter who specialises in the 400 metres. He holds, as of July 2022, the British record, running a personal best of 44.35 seconds for the distance set at Eugene, Orego ...

and

Pavel Maslák Pavel Maslák (, born 21 February 1991) is a Czech sprinter who specialises in the 200 metres and 400 metres. He is the only athlete in history who has managed to win the 400 m title at the World Indoor Championships at three consecutive champion ...

. In 2019 he won the 400 m at the 2019 World Athletics Championships, finishing ahead of American favorite

Fred Kerley Fredrick Lee Kerley (born May 7, 1995) is an American track and field sprinter known primarily for competing in the 400 meters distance but more recently the 100 meters and 200 meters. He has earned several medals at the World Championships in ...

in a national record of 43.48 s, which also made him the sixth fastest man in history after the race. He won the 400m dash at the 2020 Olympic Games in a time of 43.85. This was the joint fastest time in the world for the 2021 season. In January 2022, he ran the fastest indoor

300m The 300 metres is an uncommon sprinting event in track and field competitions. All-time top 25 *+ = en route to 400 m performance *i = indoor performance *A = affected by altitude *OT = oversized track (> 200 m in circumference) *h = hand timi ...

of all time with a time of 31.56.

Statistics

All information from

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profile unless otherwise noted.

Personal bests

International competitions

400 m circuit wins

Diamond League The Diamond League is an annual series of elite track and field athletic competitions comprising fourteen of the best invitational athletics meetings. The series sits in the top tier of the World Athletics (formerly known as the IAAF) one-day mee ...

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: 2017 **

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: 2018 **

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References

External links

* *
Gold for Gardiner in the 400m , World Athletics Championships 2019 , Doha Moments
by IAAF Athletics via

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Gardiner, Steven Living people 1995 births People from Central Abaco People from Abaco Islands Bahamian male sprinters Olympic athletes of the Bahamas Olympic bronze medalists for the Bahamas Olympic gold medalists for the Bahamas Olympic bronze medalists in athletics (track and field) Olympic gold medalists in athletics (track and field) Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics World Athletics Championships athletes for the Bahamas World Athletics Championships winners World Athletics Championships medalists Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Olympics