Jereem 8th in men's 200m final, De Grasse wins

TRINIDAD AND Tobago will have to wait a bit longer for its first medal at the Tokyo 2020 Games as Jereem "The Dream" Richards placed eighth in the men’s 200m final on Wednesday morning (TT time).

Running out of lane two, Richards had a fair start, but was no match for the field as he clocked 20.39 seconds. The 27-year-old had the fourth-fastest reaction time (0.149s) out of the blocks, but was unable to capitalise against the globe’s top 200m sprinters.

Winning gold and his first global title was Canadian Andre de Grasse, who clocked a new national record time of 19.62 seconds. De Grasse finished second, behind Jamaican legend Usain Bolt, in the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

De Grasse, who has a Trinidadian mother and Barbadian father, had the fastest reaction time (0.135s) among the eight contenders.

Bagging silver and bronze were Americans Kenneth Bednarek, in a personal best time of 19.68, and Noah Lyles, in a season-best time of 19.74, respectively. Another American, Erriyon Knighton (19.93), was fourth and Liberian sprinter Joseph Fahnbulleh (19.98) was fifth in a new national record time.

Coming in sixth and seventh were Canadian Aaron Brown (20.20) and Jamaican Rasheed Dwyer (20.21) respectively.

Richards, the 2018 Commonwealth Games 200m champ, may have one final chance to redeem "the dream" if he is selected to run in the opening round of men’s 4x400m relay qualifying on Friday from 7.25am (TT time). TT lines up in lane three in heat one of two.

Here, the first three finishers in each heat and the next two fastest times advance to the medal race.