Kenny Bednarek, or say Kung FU Kenny, has broken through every wall put in front of him in 2025. The man has been unbeatable, unstoppable, and an undeniable force on the track. In all three of his Grand Slam Track meets, Kenny has boasted firepower. Kingston was a 10.7 seconds, 100m number 1. In Miami, he raised the bar even higher by clocking a wind-assisted 9.79s. Then came Philadelphia, where he went on to clock a personal-best 9.86s! But behind his dominant run is a surprising influence! Part of the credit, Bednarek just said, goes to someone unexpected. Someone who’s currently struggling to find his own spark—Christian Coleman! But how?

In his interview with CBC Sports’ Aaron Brown and Perdita Felicien from June 5, 2025, Kenny Bednarek had many insights to share on his recent streak. In his question, Brown pointed out, “After last year, with you making the Olympic final in the 100, you’re like, okay, I can actually belong with these guys. And now you’re more aggressive coming out of the 100.” He gave a shout-out to Kenny for that. Bednarek clocked a time of 9.93 seconds in the semifinals to qualify for the finals, where he finished seventh with a time of 9.88 seconds. 

Replying to Brown’s shout out, Kung-FU Kenny said in the discussion, “You know, way more aggressive, and I think that’s due to, you know, obviously having additional Coleman, and you already know what he’s been doing to us at practice. So it’s kind of like, hey, we better get our shit together. And then obviously, you know, like I said, training with you, Kyrie, you know, getting tips from you guys every now and then has helped me a lot. You know, the biggest difference I can see that me and you both know is that you don’t see me hiking up my shoulders anymore. Everything is nice and fluid from start to finish, and it’s helped out a lot.”

Christian Coleman changed to Dennis Mitchell’s coaching in 2025, after parting ways with his long-time coach, Tim Hall. Dennis is a part of the Star Athletics Track Club in Florida. Coleman’s girlfriend, Sha’Carri Richardson, is a part of this training facility. And not only is Kenny a part of this group, but this is also where Aaron Brown trains as well. He has been a regular finalist in both the 100m and 200m on the global stages like the World Championships, the Diamond League, Olympics. Christian Coleman might be having a rough season, but let’s not forget his 9.76s in the 2019 World Championships in Doha, which is the sixth fastest time in the world.

But for Coleman, the change in his coach is a big one. Not because he was with Tim for a long time, but because his 2025 season is not going as he must have wished, and the track and field community is not going easy on him.

Christian Coleman criticized for poor performance

Coleman’s campaign began at the Pepsi Florida Relays in Gainesville, where he helped the 4x100m relay squad to a solid 38.16s and second place. A couple of weeks later, he starred in the relay again at the Tom Jones Memorial, anchoring his team to a 37.90s win, but his solo 100m saw him finish third with a time of 10.06 seconds. At the Xiamen Diamond League, he finished fourth with 10.18s, and in Keqiao, he slipped further, placing fifth despite a slight improvement to 10.13s.

Tokyo offered some hope as he ran 10.11s  for third at the Seiko Golden Grand Prix, but it wasn’t enough to shift the narrative that Christian Coleman was in bad form. Comments started to roll in like, “I think Coleman is cooked“. Another instance in one person commenting on his Instagram post, “Dude u Fell off baddd“.

In Philadelphia, Coleman competed in both the 100m and 200m at the Grand Slam Track meet. He placed fourth in the 100m with 10.12s (+0.8) and finished sixth in the 200m with 20.66s. Across five 100m races, he has yet to break the 10-second barrier, and his placements still have to go above three. What do you think of his season?