media_artricles :: 2017

Jereem Richards cops bronze in men’s 200m

The 22-year-old Richards, who faced the starter in lane seven, overcame a wet track, caused by occasional rain, to cross the finish line in 20.11 seconds, the same as prerace favourite Wayde Van Niekerk of South Africa, while Turkey's Ramil Guliyev captured gold in 20.09. 

However, in the photo-finish, Van Niekerk, the World and Olympic 400m champ, was .106 of a millisecond while Richards was .107. 

Nethaneel Mitchell-BLake of Great Britain was fourth in 20.24, folloed by Ameer Webb of the United States (20.26), Isaac Makwala of Botswana (20.44), Abdul Hakim Sani Brown of Japan (20.63) and Isiah Young of the United States (20.64). 

Offering congratulations was Member of Parliament for Point Fortin (Richards' constituency) and National Security Minister Edmund Dillon. 

"We all know quite well that overcoming the challenges that confronted you on your journey to this historic day was no small feat," said Dillon, in a media release. 

"However, you persevered, and today you stand as one fine example of what it takes to shine among the best in the world." Another Point Fortin native and ex-national 200m and 400m champ Alvin Daniel, in a telephone interview, noted, "A little inexperience kicked in a bit (as) he didn't run the bend as he used to. But I think he picked up silver though." Daniel stated, "I hope that people (corporate TT ) will come out and support these guys and not wait for them to do something." The ex-national star is hopeful that Richards will participate for the national team in the men's 4x400-metre relay this weekend. 

Keshorn Walcott, the 2012 Olympic champ and 2016 bronze medallist, booked a place in tomorrow's javelin final. 

Walcott, who featured in the second group of the preliminary round phase, registered a throw of 86.01 metres, behind Czech Republic's Petr Frydrych who had a mark of 86.22m. Andreas Hoffman of Germany was third with 85.62m. 

In the first group, Johannes Vetter of Germany had the best distance thus far of 91.20m, ahead of Tero Pitkamaki of Finland (85.97m) and Ahmed Bader Magour of Qatar (83.83m). 

But there was no such joy for Semoy Hackett, who finished seventh and last in the second, of three semi-final races, in the women's 200m. Hackett completed the race in 23.54 seconds, with Shaunae Miller-Uibo of the Bahamas (22.49) and United States' Kimberlyn Duncan (22.73) qualifying. 

Other participants were Mujinga Kambundji of Switzerland (23.00), Simone Facey of Jamaica (23.01), Edidiong Odiong of Bahrain (23.24) and Bianca Williams of Great Britain (23.40), while Brazil's Rosangela Santos was disqualified. 

Today, Deborah John will make her entry into the World Champs when she competes in heat five, in the preliminary round, of the women's 100-metre hurdles – scheduled to begin at 5.45 am (TT time). The semi-final stage is carded for 2.05 pm (TT time)

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