The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

MEN’S national 400 metre record holder Steven Gardiner finds himself training in a much “better environment” as the 2017 season gets underway and he’s excited about the prospects on the horizon.

In what he called a mutual separation from former coach George Cleare, Gardiner is now in Clermont, Florida where he’s coached by Gary Evans under management of On Track Management, the same company that is responsible for 2016 Olympic gold medallist Shaunae Miller-Uibo and her husband Maicel Uibo, the decathlete from Estonia.

“All is going very well,” said Gardiner, who trains with such athletes as 2013 World Championships’ 400m hurdles champion Jehue Gordon, American quarter-milers Tony McQuay and Francena McCorory as well as Jamaican Novlene Williams-Mills, the 2007 World Championships’ 400m bronze medallist in Osaka, Japan.

“It’s going good. I’m very happy.”

In his new environment, Gardiner said he has access to all of the amenities that is required for a professional athlete, including a weight room and gym that makes it so easy for him to train.

“I ran for the second time indoors in a 300m. I don’t like indoors, but I did it for the workout and it went very well,” Gardiner said. “I also did a 4 x 400m relay.

“I’m now getting ready for the outdoors and I hope I can get started with a 44-second opener. By the end of the season, I hope that I can run at least 43 seconds.”

On Saturday, June 26, 2015 in the Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations’ National Open Track and Field Championships at the Thomas A Robinson National Stadium, Gardiner replaced Chris ‘Fireman’ Brown’s seven-year-old national record of 44.40 with 44.27.

The former 200m specialist coming out of Moore’s Island, Abaco, would go on to post some of the more consistent times than any other Bahamian over the last two seasons as he repeated as the national champion.

But after failing to advance out of the semifinal of the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in August, Gardiner said he knew a change was eminent.

“At the Olympics, I wasn’t at my best. It just made me realized that I could do so much better, so I guess I had to make a change,” he insisted. “I feel very good about it. I’m very happy and I ‘m very happy with the environment that I’m in.

“I guess I just needed people to motivate me, instead of training by myself. Being in a group, it makes me more happier and I get to enjoy what I’m doing at the same time.”

After watching South African Wayde van Niekerk ran away from the field that included 2011 world and 2012 Olympic champion Kirani James from Grenada and American two-time world (20087 and 2009) and 2008 Olympic champion LaShawn Merritt in the final in Rio de Janeiro to shatter American Michael Johnson’s 17-year-old world record of 43.18 by posting a stunning new mark of 43.03 out of lane eight, Gardiner said he’s even more motivated to compete this year.

“It makes me want to go out there and run faster than what they have ran,” he projected. “I want to go out there and do my thing now.

“I want to PR (run personal best) and also make the final and medal at the World Championships (in London, England, August 3-12) and lower my national record.”

As a native from Murphy Town, Gardiner said he’s even more thrilled to see the latest development that is taking place in Moores Island under his original coach Rev. Anthony Williams and Nick Dean of Integrated Building Services, who are operating a Moores Island Student Athletes Programme.

The Bahamas Government has announced that they intend to open the first National Sports Academy in Moores Island in short order.

“It’s a honor for the National Sports Academy to be held in Moores Island,” Gardiner stressed. “Nothing much is in Abaco and based on what I’ve seen when I was last there, everything is looking good.

“I know the struggle that I went through when I was there with no facilities, no weight room, no nothing to train in. It was very hard for me and other athletes. So it will make me feel happy to see that they won’t have to go through what we went through.”

In a show of gratitude, Gardiner expressed his sincere thanks to coach Williams for the role he played in his life.

“I want to thank him for what he’s done for me. We talk on a daily basis and he always encourage me to perform at my best,” Gardiner noted. “I look up to him 100 percent as a father figure. I’m very happy for everything that he’s done for me.”

The 21-year-old 6-feet, 2-inches son of Theresa and Steven Gardiner said he’s also thrilled to have been afforded the opportunity to get to the stage that he’s reached, especially coming from a Family Island.

“Not many from Abaco have gotten the opportunity to compete on the next level,” said Gardiner, who burst on the scene in 2014 when he got fourth in the 200m and ran on the men’s 3 x 100 silver and bronze 4 x 400m relay teams at the Carifta Games in Fort-de-France, Martinique before getting 12th in the semifinal of the 200m at the IAAF World Junior Championships in Eugene, Oregon that same year.

“So I was very happy and very proud of myself.”

Gardiner follows in the footsteps of former national record holder Troy McIntosh and Golden Girl Savatheda Fynes, the 1997 World Championship bronze medalist in Seville, Spain and a member of the 1999 World Championships and 2000 Olympic women’s 4 x 100m relay teams, who are both from Abaco.

This weekend, Gardiner will be competing as a part of the 4 x 400m team at the Florida Relays. However, he will be making his debut in the 400m at the inaugural Grenada Invitational in Grenada on Saturday, April 8.

After that, he will make the trek home to compete in the third edition of the IAAF World Relays that will take place April 22-23 at the Thomas A. Robinson National Stadium.

“I’m excited bout the relays. I’m definitely going to be there because I want to continue to represent my country, the Bahamas,” he stated.