Sheldon LongleySend an emailAugust 23, 2023 369 3 minute readFacebookTwitterLinkedInShare via Email

BUDAPEST, Hungary – From he was wheeled off the track following the heats of the men’s 400 meters (m) at the 19th World Athletics Championships at the National Athletics Stadium in Budapest, Hungary, one got the feeling that the hot and humid conditions were affecting Steven Gardiner.

It all came to a head in the semifinals on Tuesday as the former world champion and current Olympic champion came crashing out of that event after coming off the second curve with a lead.

For three quarters of the race, it looked like another walk in the park for Gardiner – in full control of his men’s 400m semifinal event. Gardiner appeared to suffer a pulled hamstring, possibly from a buildup of lactic acid, and from a mild case of dehydration, but he later went on social media and said exactly what the injury was.

Gardiner said he suffered a grade one sprain of the tendon extending into his knee from the right posterior thigh. It had a drastic effect on the Bahamian champion, and he paid a heavy price. His season is now over, and for the second world championships, he will not have an opportunity to go after the men’s 400m title.

Gardiner grimaced in pain coming around the second curve, pulled up and went crashing down to the ground. Just like that, he was out of the event, and The Bahamas’ best hopes for a gold medal at these Budapest World Championships went up in smoke.

Gardiner was accompanied to a local hospital here in Budapest by Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations’ (BAAA) President Drumeco Archer, the doctor for Team Bahamas Dr. Keir Miller, and the team’s physiotherapist Pharez Cooper. According to reports, a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) test was performed on Gardiner last night to determine the extent and severity of the injury which Gardiner later revealed on social media.

Team Leader Laketah Charlton said, at this time, the team is asking all Bahamians to offer prayers for Gardiner in hopes of a speedy recovery.

Gardiner was set to be a heavy favorite for the gold medal, particularly with the withdrawal of defending world champion Michael Norman prior to the start of the world championships, and the uninspiring effort by others including world record holder Wayde Van Niekerk, of South Africa, who was third in his semifinal heat and qualified for the final by time. Gardiner appeared to be the only athlete in the field in 43-second form.

He is the world leader at 43.73 seconds, and the next closest to him, in time, is Muzala Samukonga, of Zambia, who is not competing in the world championships due to a hamstring injury. Samukonga ran a time of 43.91 seconds in April of this year. He and Gardiner have the only two sub-44 races for the year.

The men’s 400m final is now wide open with a number of hopefuls looking to break through and win what they hope would be their first world title. Van Niekerk and Kirani James, of Grenada, are the only two former World and Olympic champions in the eight-man field, and they appear to be below peak form.

As for The Bahamas, the country’s best medal hopes now rests on the shoulders of women’s 100m hurdles national record holder Devynne Charlton, who looked fantastic in the heats of that event on Tuesday, and 200m specialist Anthonique Strachan, who will begin her quest for what she hopes will be her first global final outdoors, on the senior side, today. Charlton will run in the women’s 100m hurdles semis today.

Other Bahamians in action today will be LaQuan Nairn in the qualifying rounds of the men’s long jump, Rhema Otabor in the qualifying rounds of the women’s javelin and Charisma Taylor in the qualifying rounds of the women’s triple jump.

The final of the women’s 100m hurdles and the men’s long jump, and the semis of the women’s 200m, will be held on Thursday. The final of the women’s 200m, women’s javelin and the women’s triple jump will take place on Friday.