Richards, Cumberbatch to begin T&T’s World Indoors charge in Poland

2026-03-20 - 01:13

T&T sprinter Jereem Richards will go after his second career World Indoor 400-metre gold medal Friday, when his campaign at the 2026 edition begins at the Kujawsko-Pomorska Arena, Kuyavian-Pomeranian, Poland. Richards, winner in the men’s 400m at the 2022 World Championship in London, is slotted into lane six in the first heat in the preliminary round of the event, which begins at approximately 6.56 am. The 32-year-old has run a season’s best of 45.56 seconds, which bills him as the highest-ranked athlete in his heat, sitting sixth in the world. Alongside him in lane five will be Brazil’s Pan American Games champion Matheus Lima, ranked 25th with a season’s best 45.54. Ericsson Tavares from Portugal has run a season’s best time of 46.17, is ranked 201st in the world and will run in lane four, while lane three is occupied by Slovenian national champion Lovro Mesec Kosir. The two finishers from each of the six heats, plus the athletes with the next four fastest times overall, will qualify for the men’s 400m semifinal, which is scheduled for later this afternoon at 3.44 pm. T&T has sent a four-member contingent to this year’s World Indoor Championship, which also includes Leah Bertrand, Tyra Gittens-Spotsville and Nathan Cumberbatch. Cumberbatch, 21, in his debut senior international meet for T&T, will go into action in the first round in the men’s 800m event at approximately 8.21 am today. The University of Southern California student-athlete and 2022 Carifta Games Under-20 boys’ 800m champion has been assigned to lane three in heat four. Meanwhile, Bertrand, 23, enters the first round of the women’s 60m, which begins at 6.05 am tomorrow. The semifinal in that event will also be contested tomorrow at 3.14 pm, with the final set for 4.20 pm. Gittens-Spotsville will compete in the women’s long jump from 5.20 am on Sunday. The other members of T&T’s delegation at the Championships, which will run until Sunday, are team manager Jehue Gordon, coach Donavan Spotsville and Nicole Fuentes-Charles as team medic.