PARIS, France — Indian Hills Community College alum Kenny Bednarek qualified for the 100-meter semifinals at the 2024 Paris Olympics Saturday morning with a time of 9.97 seconds.
For reference, the world record for the 100-meter is 9.58 seconds and the Olympic record is 9.63 seconds, both held by retired Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt.
Bednarek took first in his heat, narrowly besting Eseme Emmanuel from Cameroon who ran a 9.98 second race. Bednarek's time tied for the fastest by any runner out of all round 1 heats Saturday.
The only other runner to run a 9.97 second race in a round 1 heat was fellow Team USA sprinter Fred Kerley.
The top sprinter coming out of Team USA Olympic qualifying in the 100-meters was Noah Lyles who took second in his round 1 heat with a time of 10.04 seconds. Lyles will also move on to semifinals with Bednarek and Kerley.
All three will run in the 100-meter semifinals Sunday at 1:05 p.m. CST.
Bednarek and Lyles will also run in round 1 qualifying for the 200-meter sprint Monday at 12:55 p.m. CST.
