Paris Olympics 2024: Who are Kenny Bednarek's parents? Time, date and how to stream men's 200m final
PARIS, FRANCE: American sprinter Kenny Bednarek's mother Mary Ann Bednarek once revealed that he was "a very uncoordinated child", during a conversation with WEAU.
Bednarek won a silver medal in the Tokyo Olympics 200-meter men's final sprint. The Rice Lake native finished with a personal best time of 19.68, just behind Canada's Andre de Grasse, who secured gold with his own personal best of 19.62.
Kenny Bednarek's mother never anticipated his athletic achievements
Bednarek gained the nickname Kenny the Jet in high school because of his sheer sprinting talent. The 25-year-old studied at the Indian Hills Community College in Iowa.
His mother, Mary Ann Bednarek, told WEAU how she noted her son was a very uncoordinated child and so she never thought he would be where he is today. That said, the details about Kenny's father remain private.
“He was very uncoordinated as a youngster I would have never ever imagined he’d be where he is now when he was four and five years old. I was like boy he’s clumsy,” Mary Ann told WEAU in 2021.
“When you would see him on the track you could see that was where he was happiest … When he was little, I called him my Secretariat. I remember watching Secretariat win by 32 lengths himself and that was Kenny!”
The mother knew her son was fast but did not think it would mean anything for his career.
“Big shout out to Coach Sasada because he was like he’s really special and I was like I know he’s my kid and he’s like no no no you don’t understand and at that time as a freshman I didn’t understand I just thought he was Kenny and he runs,” Mary Ann said.
Both Sasada and Mary Ann remember a turning point in Kenny's journey. It was reportedly during his WIAA debut as a freshman in high school.
“He came in second and I thought that’s God’s way of saying he’s not ready to cope with all of that,” said Kenny’s mother. “It was a wake-up call when he lost those races at state ... that flipped the switch because he wanted to keep getting better and better,” said Sasada.
However, Kenny said he wanted to be more than just "fine." He wanted to be the greatest of all time.
“My whole goal is to be the best to ever do it. To be faster than Bolt,” he told WEAU. “His brother would tease him and say you’re going to be the next Usain Bolt … and that’s his goal. To be the fastest guy in the world,” Mary Ann commented.
“When you look at the competition the closest competition he has is here in the US and he races them all the time ... I really don’t think there’s anything that can stop him from taking the gold medal and being the fastest 200 kid,” Sasada added.
Kenny Bednarek won a silver medal at Tokyo Olympics in 2021
Bednarek had run a 19.83 in the semi-finals, finishing in second behind de Grasse to qualify for the finals of the 200m event.
He was a winner in his first race of the Tokyo Olympics games as he won his heat, running the fastest time in the quarterfinals with a time of 20.01. That race saw Lyles post the third-fastest time at 20.18.
Finishing at 19.68 in the finals, he brought home a silver medal.
Olympics 2024 date, time and how to stream
Olympics 2024 will take place from July 26 to August 11, 2024, in France.
Men's 200m Round 1 is scheduled for August 5, 2024, at 1:55 pm ET. The final round will air on August 8, at 2:30 pm ET, on USA Network. It will also be available for streaming on Fubo TV and Peacock.
