The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

AFTER taking a fall at the end of his last race that he didn’t get to complete, Steven Gardiner returned with an impressive performance on Sunday as he continues his quest for the men’s 400 metres gold at the Olympic Games.

As the games fast approaches in Tokyo, Japan from July 23 to August 8, Gardiner breezed through with an easy win in 45.06 at the Music City Track Classic at the Montgomery Bell Academy in Nashville, Tennessee.

The performance came after he tumbled and fell 10-15m from the finish line with the lead on May 17 at the USATF Open, Fort Worth, Texas. He was diagnosed with an ankle injury that only required an out-patient procedure.

Back to his old form, Gardiner surged to the front of the pack in Nashville and came off the final curve with a commanding lead. He used his 6-feet, 3-inch frame to accelerate down the home stretch and wasn’t challenged to the tape.

Jamaican Christopher Taylor was a distant second in a season’s best of 45.67 and American Quintaveon Poole got third in 45.92.

Gardiner’s manager Claude Bryan, the chief executive officer of On Track Management, said his coach “was pleased with the effort in Nashville especially since his ankle held up well for the effort.”

Bryan confirmed that Gardiner will now return home to compete in the Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations’ National Open Championships.

Immediately thereafter, Bryan stated that Gardiner will compete in Europe as he fine tunes his Tokyo preparation for his second appearance at the Olympics. Gardiner, a native of Abaco, posted a season’s best of 44.71 at the Tom Jones Memorial Invitational at the Percy Beard Track at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, on April 17 - his first 400m for the year.

He made his season’s debut in the 200m indoors on January 15 at the UAB Blazer Invitational, CrossPlex Athletic Facility in Birmingham, Alabama, when he ran 32.70.

Gardiner has produced lifetime bests of 19.75 in the 200m on April 17, 2018 in Coral Gables, Florida and 43.48 in the 400m on October 4, 2019 at the World Championships at the Khalifa International Stadium in Doha, Qatar.

Both the 200m and 400m times are pegged as the Bahamas national records.

Anthonique Strachan gets second

Meanwhile, Bahamian sprinter Anthonique Strachan was waiting for her first opportunity to run her speciality for the first time this season.

She got that chance on Saturday at the Jamaican Amateur Athletic Association’s Olympic Destiny Series #3 at the National Stadium in Kingston, Jamaica, where she clocked 23.39 seconds.

However, she missed the Olympic qualifying time of 22.80.

Shericka Jackson, one of Strachan’s training partners in the MVP Track Club, won the race in 22.93.

The meet saw Jamaican sensation Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce of the Elite Track Club produce the second fastest time ever on the planet in the women’s 100m in 10.63. American Natasha Morrison, also of MVP Track Club, ran 10.95 for second.

The only other woman to run faster than Fraser-Pryce was Florence Griffith Joyner, representing the United States, who set the women's 100m world record of 10.49 seconds on July 16, 1988 in Indianapolis, Indiana.