By BRENT STUBBS

Chief Sports Editor

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

BAHAMAS men’s national 400 metres record holder Steven Gardiner said he’s glad to be back, but he’s hoping that he can stay “injury free” as he looks forward to a fun-filled season in preparation to defend his title at the Olympic Games in August.

At his last global competition at the World Athletics’ 2023 World Championships in Buda- pest, Hungary in August, Gardiner pulled up and didn’t finish his men’s 400 metre semi-final race.

“It was pretty bad,” Gardiner reflected about the injury. “It’s a good thing that I didn’t keep on going because I could have torn it right off the bone. So I’m happy to get through it and can compete again.”

Gardiner was diagnosed with a two-millimetre tear in his right tendon. He had to travel to Germany to get some specialist zed treatment. It started the day after the injury in August and he returned in November for a check-up and he followed that up with another trip in March.

“It’s a lot of work and a lot of money that I have to put into it,” said Gardiner, who is expected to make two more trips to Germany before the Olympics for full clearance.

“You don’t want to feel good and just run on it. Once I feel anything, I will have to shut it down because we don’t want to go backwards. We want to continue moving forward. We’re going to try our best. But I feel good right now and I’m just glad to be back.”

This year, Gardiner returned to the track, running one indoor meet on March 15 at the University of Miami Cobb Stadium in Coral Gables, Florida where he ran 31.99 seconds for a victory in the men’s 300m.

On Saturday, he competed in his first outdoor meet at the Louisiana State University’s Gold Meet at the Bernie Moore Track Stadium in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

The 28-year-old Abaco native surged to the front of the pack in the men’s 400 metres in a sizzling time of 44.45, well off his lifetime best of 43.49 to clinch the world title in 2019.

In the process, he surpassed the qualifying standard of 45.00 for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, France as he goes in as the defending champion from the last games held in Tokyo, Japan in 2020.

“The main priority right now is to remain healthy. We are too concerned about running every week, but rather to stay healthy,” said Gardiner, about his plans with coach Gary Evans at the training site in Florida.

“We have a few meets on our schedule that we would like to compete in, but the plan is to stay healthy first and just drop the hammer at the Olympics. The plan is to stay injury-free and make the final and do what we have to do to get on the podium.”

Gardiner admits that Evans knows how to get the best out of him, but he’s hopeful that he will get through it and be ready to compete at the games in Paris, France in August.

Before he gets to Paris, Gardiner intends to come home next week to prepare for the World Relays to be staged at the Thomas A. Robinson National Stadium May 4-5 with the view of getting the mixed 4 x 400m and the men’s 4 x 400m relays teams qualified for the Olympics.

“We are home once again, so it would be good for us to medal again,” said Gardiner, who teamed up with Shaunae Miller-Uibo, Michael Mathieu and Anthonique Strachan to win the mixed relay at the last World Relays held in the Bahamas in 2017.

“We know that the majority of the top collegiate athletes won’t be able o compete, but with the people we have available, hopefully we can go out there, put together some good relay teams to keep the gold medal at home.”

Although the weather was “super hot” in Louisiana, Gardiner said he got to compete against some of his training partners, beating out American Vernon Norwood, who was second in 44.94 and Great Britain’s Matthew Hudson-Smith, who was third in 45.00.

“It was a good race. The competition was there. Everybody did their thing,” Gardiner said. “This will be the majority of the guys, added with a few others, who will be competing.

“It’s 10 years now that I’ve been doing it professionally and it’s basically the same set of people that I have to look forward to competing against. So I’m pleased with my performance against them.”

When he first started, switching from running the 200m as a junior competitor to the 400m as a senior, Gardiner said he was pleased with his transformation from coach Anthony Williams to Evans.

“I feel amazing about it. When I first started, I was much younger and I needed to develop physically and mentally, but once I did it and got second place, I said I wanted to get the gold,” Gardiner reflected. “I got the gold medal in the World Championships and then I wanted to go to the Olympics. I got a bronze medal in the 4 x 4 relay, I wanted an individual medal. I got it. It was gold. So everything that has happened in the sport, I am thankful.

“All of the things that I set my mind out to do, I accomplished it. But it’s always good to do it all over again. But I’m just having fun right now, I want to do it again and I’m working on doing it again, but I’m having fun right now trying to do it.”

To the Bahamian public, who have been throwing their support behind him, even when he went down with the injury, Gardiner said it’s their prayers and comments that have been able to sustain him with his faith in God.

“Thanks for all of the positive stuff, all of the advice and the congratulations and all of the prayers that you have sent to me through Facebook. I really appreciate it,” Gardiner stated. “It wasn’t easy, but with everybody behind me, it makes it less stressful for me to go out there and compete. I really appreciate it and I’m really excited to come home and compete in the relays.”