Richards gets 400m world indoor bronze
2026-03-21 - 18:36
Senior Multimedia Reporter nigel.simon@guardain.co.tt T&T’s Jereem ‘The Dream’ Richards ran a season-best 45.39 seconds to claim the bronze medal in the men’s 400m final at the 21st World Athletics Indoor Championships at the Kujawy-Pomorska Arena in Toruń, Poland, yesterday. For this year’s 400m events the format was changed, as only lanes three to six were used to reduce the disadvantage of running in lanes one and two, meaning a maximum of four athletes was allowed in each race. Lining up in lane three of the second 400m final, the 32-year-old Richards, the 2022 world indoor 400m champion, had the third-fastest reaction time to the starter of 0.167 seconds, behind USA’s Khaleb Mc Rae (0.157) and the Czech Republic’s Tomas Horak (0.159). In the end, Richards crossed the line behind Canadian Christopher Williams, who overcame his slow start of 0.206 seconds to storm to victory in a new championship record time of 44.76 seconds, while Mc Rae secured the silver medal in 45.03, with Horak fourth in 45.70. In the first four-man final, USA’s Chris Robinson was quick out the gates in 0.138 seconds and ran away with the top spot in 45.55, with Hungary’s Attila Molnar second in 45.71, Brazilian Matheus Lima third in 46.17, and Kenyan Brian Onyari Tinega fourth in 46.62. On Friday, Richards, who ran 45 seconds flat in his 2022 triumph in Serbia and was a member of the 4x400m relay team which won bronze at the World Indoor Championship in 2012, secured the third-fastest qualifier time from semifinal heat two, in which he placed third in 45.87 seconds, well off his previous season best of 45.56. In that second heat, Williams won in 45.35 to earn the lone automatic qualifying spot with the fastest time overall. Tinega also overtook Richards, who had led at the 300m mark, to take second in 45.75. Tinega advanced to the final as the fastest non-heat winner and fifth-fastest overall. Robinson ran away with the first semifinal heat in 45.46, followed by Lima in 45.71. In the third heat, Albania’s Franko Burraj topped the field in 45.81, finishing well ahead of Horak (46.03). Richards’ spot was ultimately secured during the fourth and final heat; luckily for the T&T sprinter, only the winner, McRace (45.39 s), advanced, as Portugal’s Omar Elkhatib finished a distant second in 46.51. Earlier in the morning session, Richards placed second in heat one in 46.10 to qualify behind Lima, who won the heat in 46.09, to place themselves as the sixth and fifth fastest qualifiers, respectively. Other top performers in the opening rounds included Williams, who won heat five in 45.51, while Horak (45.89) and Molnar (45.93) were one-two in heat four to post the second and third fastest times of the morning, with Mc Rae, the winner of heat six, fourth overall with a time of 46.09. T&T’s lone woman team member on the track, 23-year-old Leah Bertrand, was a fourth-place finisher in the seventh and final women’s 60m heat in 7.22 seconds to earn a spot in the semifinal as the second of three fastest losers or non-automatic qualifiers. Poland’s Ewa Swoboda won the heat in 7.08 seconds, with Great Britain’s Amy Hunt second in 7.15 and the Dominican Republic’s Liranyi Alonso third in 7.19 to earn the three automatic spots from heat seven. Jamaican Brianna Lyston, who won heat six in 7.06 seconds, and St Lucian Julien Alfred, the Olympic 100m and 200m champion, also clocked the same time in topping heat four, while Italian Zaynab Dosso (7.07), Great Britain’s Dina Asher-Smith (7.07), and Jamaican Jonielle Smith (7.08) were winners of heats one, five, and three, respectively, to secure their spots among the top eight qualifiers along with USA’s Jacious Sears (7.07), who had the second-best time in heat six. In the women’s 60 m semifinal heat two at 3.34 pm, Bertrand will run out of lane one against the Czech Republic’s Karolina Manasova, Italian Zaynab Dosso, Brazilian Ana Azevedo, Great Britain’s Dina Asher-Smith, Canada’s Sade Mc Creath, Finland’s Lotta Kemppinen and Germany’s Phillina Marianne Schwartz. On Sunday, 27-year-old Tyra Gittens-Spotsville competes in the women’s long jump in a field of 16 athletes from 5.20 am. The T&T team is being managed by Jehue Gordon, with Donavan Spotsville serving as coach and Nicole Fuentes-Charles as team medic.