Steven Gardiner (born 12 September 1995) is a Bahamian

track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

sprint Sprint may refer to: Aerospace * Spring WS202 Sprint, a Canadian aircraft design *Sprint (missile), an anti-ballistic missile Automobiles *Alfa Romeo Sprint, automobile produced by Alfa Romeo between 1976 and 1989 *Chevrolet Sprint, a rebadged v ...

er 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 programme at the Summer Olympics since 1896 for men and since 1964 for women. On a standard outdoor running track, it is ...

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 slight ...

. He is the 2020

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and 2019

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

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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, 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, which is the capital, and ...

is a small island off the coast of mainland

Abaco Islands The Abaco Islands lie in the north of Bahamas, The Bahamas, about 193 miles (167.7 nautical miles or 310.6 km) east of Miami, Florida, US. The main islands are Great Abaco and Little Abaco, which is just west of Great Abaco's northern tip. T ...

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 The 2014 CARIFTA Games were held from April 19–21, 2014 at the Stade d'Honneur de Dillon, Stade Pierre Aliker in Fort-de-France, Martinique. A detailed report of the event was given for the IAAF. For the first time, the youth competition was ...

: 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 race (athletics), relay competition between nations. As in the previous year, it was held in May in Nassau, Bahamas, Nassau, The Bahamas, Bahamas. Apar ...

, 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 joint sixth fastest comp ...

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

Ramon Miller Ramon Salomon 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 ...

Michael Mathieu Michael Walter Mathieu (born 24 June 1984) is a retired Bahamian sprinter hailing 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 ...

and

Chris Brown Christopher Maurice Brown (born May 5, 1989) is an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and actor. A Pop music, pop and hip-hop-influenced contemporary R&B, R&B musician who works in a variety of genres, he has been called the "Honorific nic ...

. 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 Bislett ...

, 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 fifteen invitational athletics meetings. The series sits in the top tier of the World Athletics one-day meet competitions. The inaugural season was ...

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 and is the 5th fastest athlete of all-time over the distance. In September 2024 he was ranked as the number one 400 m runner in ...

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 won the 400 m title at the World Indoor Championships at three consecutive championships. Masl ...

. In 2019, he won the 400 m at the

2019 World Athletics Championships The 2019 IAAF World Athletics Championships () was the seventeenth edition of the biennial, global sport of athletics, athletics competition organised by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), since renamed World Athleti ...

, finishing ahead of American favorite

Fred Kerley Fredrick Lee Kerley ( ; born May 7, 1995) is an American track and field sprinter. He was the Olympic silver medalist over 100 m at the 2020 Olympics and bronze medalist at the 2024 Olympics in the same event. Kerley has earned an additional s ...

in a national record of 43.48 s, which also made him the sixth fastest man in history after the race. He won the

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

at the

2020 Olympic Games The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

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 300 m of all time with a time of 31.56. He was unable to defend his World Championship 400 m title due to injury. In April 2025, he signed as a racer in the Long Sprints event category for the

2025 Grand Slam Track The 2025 Grand Slam Track season was the inaugural season of Grand Slam Track, an outdoor professional track and field league established in 2024 by Michael Johnson. The season lasted from April to June. Schedule The 2025 Grand Slam Track se ...

season, replacing

Quincy Hall Quincy Hall (born July 31, 1998) is an American track and field athlete who competes over 400 metres and 400 m hurdles. He won the gold medal at the 2024 Summer Olympics in the 400 metres event. Early life From Kansas City, Missouri, Hall part ...

Statistics

All information from

World Athletics World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation and International Association of Athletics Federations and formerly abbreviated as the IAAF, is the international sports governing body, governing body for the sport ...

profile unless otherwise noted.

Personal bests

International competitions

The two highlighted times are track records. Gardiner also holds the track record for

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Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

where he ran 43.74 seconds in July 2023. ¹Did not finish in the semifinals

Circuit performances

Wins and titles

Diamond League The Diamond League is an annual series of elite track and field athletic competitions comprising fifteen invitational athletics meetings. The series sits in the top tier of the World Athletics one-day meet competitions. The inaugural season was ...

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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 21st-century Bahamian sportsmen Olympic athletes for 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 Diamond League winners