Richards goes after 400m indoor gold
2026-03-20 - 22:36
T&T’s Jereem Richards will go after this country’s first medal at the 21st World Athletics Indoor Championships when he lines up for the men’s 400 metres final at the Kujawy-Pomorska Arena in Toruń, Poland, starting at 1.34 pm on Saturday. This after the 32-year-old Richards, the 2022 400m champion after his gold medal run of 45 seconds flat in Serbia and 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 yesterday, well off his season best of 45.56, in his only previous race. In that second heat, Canadian Christopher Williams won in 45.35 to earn the lone automatic qualifying spot with the fastest time overall. Kenyan Brian 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. USA’s Chris Robinson ran away with the first semifinal heat in 45.46, followed by Brazil’s Matheus Lima in 45.71. In the third heat, Albania’s Franko Burraj topped the field in 45.81, finishing well ahead of the Czech Republic’s Tomas Horak (46.03). Richards’ spot was ultimately secured during the fourth and final heat; luckily for the T&T sprinter, only the winner, USA’s Khaleb McRace (45.39s), 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 Hungary’s Attila 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. In the 800m heats, 21-year-old Nathan Cumberbatch set a new T&T national record of 1:46.95 on his debut. Despite the historic run, it was only good enough for fourth in his heat and 20th overall, missing the semifinals by just three places. Ireland’s Mark English won that heat in 1:46.42, joined by runner-up Filip Ostrowski of Poland (1:46.61), while Estonia’s Uku Renek Kronbergs finished third in 1:46.71 for the 18th-best time and also missed out. Also on Saturday, T&T’s lone women’s team member on the track, 23-year-old Leah Bertrand, will begin her campaign in the women’s 60m sprint, while on Sunday, 27-year-old Tyra Gittens-Spotsville competes in the women’s long jump. The T&T team is being managed by Jehue Gordon, with Donavan Spotsville serving as coach, and Nicole Fuentes-Charles, team medic.