Is Steven Gardiner the most underappreciated track star in history? He hasn't lost a 400 race he's finished since 2017

In history? No. That probably goes to Frankie Fredricks if we are talking sprints.

However, Gardiner is an extraordinarily consistent 400m runner that has both medals and times to his name, and who would likely have double the medals he currently does if he if he didn't get unlucky with injuries.

Unless a younger contender who runs 43.5ish (Antonio Watson?) shows up at some point this year, Gardiner should enter the Olympics as the heavy favorite.

Are you sure it wasn’t the 2017 world championships in London, where he lost to van Niekerk?

I think van Niekerk’s injury is the reason Gardiner is under-appreciated. Gardiner never dethroned van Niekerk when he was at his best. Gardiner just became the de facto number 1 when van Niekerk got hurt. As Jakob would say, Gardiner was “just the next guy.”

Don’t get me wrong. Gardiner is a fantastic athlete and deserving champion. He’s just not as great as van Niekerk used to be, which is why he’s not as appreciated as he might be otherwise.

If he’s in form only a healthy Michael Norman will challenge him.

Look out for Håvard Bentdal Ingvaldsen.

Neither have I.

In fact, I haven't lost one I've started since 2008.

Note: I haven't started one since 2008, but you get my point.

If you fail to finish, you lose. Therefore, the title of this thread is a meaningless stat.

Matt Boling. If he ever breaks 45, watch out

Has he ever given an explanation to his DNFs? Is he injured or does he just give up when he's going to lose? He ended his 2017, 2018 and 2023 seasons with DNFs.

It’s been injuries. I think the streak in this case is overrated because he DNFs m, runs less competitive meets or stops racing instead of losing. That’s totally fine but it’s an asterisk on it. If a similarly injury-prone Emmanuel Korir only raced when healthy from 2018-2022 (so mostly skipping 2019) or ran in smaller meets when finding form, maybe he could have a similar type record. But he just races hurt/out-of-shape as a business decision (and having to qualify through Trials unlike Gardiner). Gardiner runs low-key meets until he is close to fully fit. He joins the DL later and DNFs if the injuries recur. He’s great but ultimately rated properly because since 2021 you can’t count on him being there.

Such a shame Norman switched to the 100, he was the future of the 400. Hope to see him back in action soon.

How do you DNF a 400?

That was about the one knock against Bekele I had back in the day, that he would drop out if anyone dropped him, like Tadese did at world XC one time. If you DNF, you didn't win and there's no win streak.

How can you say he's just the next guy when he's won 30 straight races he finished since then? That's not just one race. That's 7 years, more than most top level track careers!

He’s definitely had an outstanding career. That’s why I said he’s a fantastic athlete and deserving champion. I wasn’t trying to knock him. I was just offering an explanation for why he’s not as appreciated as other Olympic and world champions. I think people might reasonably question how many of those races he would have won if van Niekerk never messed up his knee playing soccer.

I’ll add that the “7 years” is a bit misleading because he didn’t race the 400 in 2020. Still an impressive stretch on his part. There was a massive void at the top of the event when van Niekerk went down, and Gardiner filled it admirably. Credit to him for that.