media_artricles :: 2017

Boldon’s 200 record intact

Ato Boldon's national indoor men's 200 metres record is still in the books. Boldon established the 20.35 seconds Trinidad and Tobago standard back in 1997 in Birmingham, England.

Jereem Richards bettered Boldon's time on Saturday, stopping the clock at 20.34 to strike gold at the Southeastern Conference (SEC) Indoor Track and Field Championships in Tennessee, USA. However, the clocking was produced on the oversized Vanderbilt Multipurpose Facility track, and will therefore not be recognised as a T&T record. The Vanderbilt track is 300 metres, while a standard indoor track is 200 metres.

But though Richards is not the national record holder, and his official personal best is still 20.57 seconds, the 23-year-old University of Alabama student has the distinction of running the fastest-ever indoor 200 on an oversized track. He takes over from American Tyson Gay, whose 20.40 clocking in 2004 was the previous "oversized best".

Boldon told the Express he expects Richards to eventually erase his T&T indoor 200m record from the books.

"I still think he's the one to break it, and that he'll get under 20 (seconds) outdoors. That's the most depressing stat we have, that no one else is sub-20."

Boldon also holds the T&T outdoor 200m record—a fast 19.77 seconds run in Stuttgart, Germany, in 1997. Rondel Sorrillo is second on the all-time T&T outdoor 200m list at 20.16.

Richards will be back in action at the March 10-11 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division 1 Indoor Championships, in Texas. With the meet being staged at the Gilliam Indoor Stadium, which features a 200-metre track, Richards will have the opportunity to break Boldon's 20.35 seconds T&T indoor record.

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