Jereem Richards (born 13 January 1994) is a

Trinidadian Trinidadians and Tobagonians, colloquially known as Trinis or Trinbagonians, are the people who are identified with the country of Trinidad and Tobago. The country is home to people of many different national, ethnic and religious origins. As a ...

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping eve ...

sprinter who specializes in the

200 metres The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400 metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run the race. A slightl ...

and 400 metres events. Richards is from

Point Fortin Point Fortin, officially the Republic Borough of Point Fortin, the smallest Borough in Trinidad and Tobago is located in southwestern Trinidad, about southwest of San Fernando, in the historic county of Saint Patrick. After the discovery of p ...

, Trinidad and Tobago, and attended the

University of Alabama The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, or Bama) is a public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of Alabama is the oldest and largest of the publi ...

. He was part of the Trinidad and Tobago team that won the bronze medal in the 4×400 m relay at the

2012 IAAF World Indoor Championships The 2012 IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics was the 14th edition of the global-level indoor track and field competition and was held between March 9–11, 2012 at the Ataköy Athletics Arena in Istanbul, Turkey. It was the first of fou ...

, and the gold medal in the 4 x 400m relay at the

2017 IAAF World Championships Seventeen or 17 may refer to: *17 (number), the natural number following 16 and preceding 18 * one of the years 17 BC, AD 17, 1917, 2017 Literature Magazines * ''Seventeen'' (American magazine), an American magazine * ''Seventeen'' (Japane ...

Career

Richards' first major competition was the

. There, he ran the third leg of Trinidad and Tobago's 4x400m relay squad, which won the bronze medal. 2017 became a breakout season for Richards; he opened his season with a wind-assisted 19.98, and 16 days later he ran his first legal sub-20 with 19.97 seconds, lowering his personal best by over half a second. He won the national 200, title in 20.15 seconds, allowing him to compete at the IAAF World Championships in London later that year. He also improved his 400m personal best by 7/10ths of a second with 45.27. Richards made his outdoor world championship debut at the IAAF World Championships in London. Competing in the 200m, he ran the fastest time in the heats of 20.05, and the next day he won his semi-final in 20.14 seconds. He then went on to win the bronze medal in the final; Ramil Guliyev of

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

won gold in 20.09 seconds, while

Wayde Van Niekerk Wayde van Niekerk (South African English: , ; born 15 July 1992) is a South African track and field Sprint (running), sprinter who competes in the 200 metres, 200 and 400 metres. In the 400 metres, he is the current world record, world and ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

beat Richards to the silver medal by exactly 1/1000 of a second. Van Niekerk clocked 20.106, while Richards clocked 20.107. Richards stated that his race had been undermined when he slipped coming out of his blocks. "I tried my best not to let it affect me too much," he said. "At the turn I wasn't in contention really, so to get a medal from there is a great achievement." Three days later, he ran the second leg for Trinidad and Tobago in the Men's 4x400m relay, making considerable ground of the

USA The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

Gil Roberts Gil Roberts (born March 15, 1989) is an American athlete who specializes in the 200 m and 400 m. He competed for Texas Tech under coach Wes Kittley at the NCAA level. He was a member of the USA team that won the gold medal in the Men's 4×400 m ...

before handing the baton to

Machel Cedenio Machel Cedenio (born 6 September 1995) is a Trinidadian sprinter specialising in the 400 metres. He represented his country at two outdoor and one indoor World Championships winning a silver medal in the relay at the 2015 outdoor edition. He comp ...

. The team ultimately went on to win gold. In September later that year, Richards announced that he was turning professional, and foregoing his final year of collegiate eligibility; he signed an endorsement deal with Adidas. Despite turning pro, he remained enrolled at Alabama to continue work towards his degree. In March 2018, he competed in the

2018 IAAF World Indoor Championships The 17th IAAF World Indoor Championships was held from 1 to 4 March 2018 in Birmingham, United Kingdom. This was the city's second hosting of the event as it previously did so in 2003. Bidding process Birmingham bid for the 2016 IAAF World Ind ...

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...

, as the second leg of Trinidad and Tobago's 4x400m relay squad. Despite being the defending champions, they ultimately came fourth. Richards tried to overcome

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

on the second leg but remained third on the second lap.

Lalonde Gordon Lalonde Keida Gordon, HBM (born 25 November 1988) is a Tobagonian male track and field sprinter who specialises in the 400 metres. He won the bronze medal at the 2012 London Olympics with a personal best of 44.52 seconds. He is the third faste ...

gave up on the line, giving

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

the bronze. Richards qualified for the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the 1 ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

in the men’s 200-metre event, and clocked a season’s best time of 20.10 seconds while finishing in third place in his semifinal heat to advance to the final. In the final he finished eighth in 20.39 seconds. In 2022, at the IAAF World Indoor Championships held in Belgrade, Serbia, Richards won gold in the men's 400m event breaking Trinidad and Tobago's national indoor record as well as the championship record of 45.11s which was formerly held by Nery Brenes of Costa Rica in 2012. Jereem Richards' time in the final of 45.00s broke Deon Lendore's former national record of 45.05s. Lendore also bagged bronze medals at the two previous editions of the championships. Richards ran in tribute to Lendore's memory who tragically died on 10 January 2022 in a fatal car accident in Texas where he lived. At the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England Jereem Richards won the 200m title for the second time beating England's Zharnel Hughes who was previously disqualified in the previous edition of the games for impeding Richards. Richards' time of 19.80s broke the Commonwealth Games record of 19.97s which was previously held by Frankie Fredericks of Namibia as it also made Richards the second fastest Trinbagonian of all time behind Ato Boldon. Later, at the Games' final event (Men's 4x400m relay), Richards anchored the Trinidad and Tobago quartet to gold in a time of 3:01:59s earning his second gold medal of the games and the most of any Trinbagonian athlete competing at the games. The performance of the athletes at the 2022 Commonwealth Games were the best performance by any Trinbagonian team since the 1966 edition.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Richards, Jereem 1994 births Living people Trinidad and Tobago male sprinters Athletes (track and field) at the 2014 Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2018 Commonwealth Games World Athletics Championships medalists World Athletics Championships athletes for Trinidad and Tobago Commonwealth Games medallists in athletics Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Trinidad and Tobago People from Point Fortin Athletes (track and field) at the 2019 Pan American Games Pan American Games silver medalists for Trinidad and Tobago Pan American Games bronze medalists for Trinidad and Tobago Pan American Games medalists in athletics (track and field) Commonwealth Games gold medallists in athletics World Athletics Championships winners Medalists at the 2019 Pan American Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes of Trinidad and Tobago World Athletics Indoor Championships winners