[UPDATED] Keshorn Walcott 7th in javelin final, Portious Warren 22nd in Paris

TT’s quest to end its eight-year Olympic medal drought now lies with the legs of two cyclists and the men’s 4x400-metre relay team.

This, after podium-hopeful and two-time Olympic medallist Keshorn Walcott finished seventh in the men’s javelin final at the Stade de France on August 8.

Walcott, who won TT’s last Olympic medal with a bronze finish at the 2016 edition in Brazil, was unable to replicate another podium display among a top-notch field of 12 finalists.

Walcott threw a season’s best distance of 86.16 metres on his first attempt, which eventually, was his best distance achieved over four of his six designated throws.

The Toco-bred athlete was the third thrower in the final and was in gold medal position after the first round of throws.

However, it all changed in the second round as Pakistani Arshad Nadeem smashed the Olympic record, and rallied on to win gold, with his mammoth 92.97m attempt.

Tokyo 2020 champion Neeraj Chopra (India) blasted 89.45m and held on for silver while Grenadian Anderson Peters launched a hefty 87.87m in the second round to surpass Walcott. He eventually took bronze with 88.54m in the fourth.

Czech Republic’s Jakub Vadlejch was fourth with 88.50m on his third attempt while Kenyan Julius Yego took fifth with 87.72m in round two. German Julian Weber finished sixth with 87.40m from his fifth throw.

Walcott fouled his second throw, landed the spear at 82.89m on his third, threw 78.96m in round four and 76.86m in round five. He opted out of the final attempt.

Walcott won gold at the 2012 London Games and then bronze in Rio De Janeiro four years later. He is TT’s last Olympic medallist since the nation finished medal-less in Tokyo, and are yet to etch the TT flag atop a podium in Paris.

In the women’s shot put earlier on, TT’s Portious Warren was unable to advance to the final after she placed 22nd in the qualification round.

Warren launched the iron sphere 17.22m, falling well short of the automatic qualifying standard of 19.15m. She achieved the her best distance on her third attempt, after recording 17.02m in her first throw and 16.28m in her second.

Canadian Sarah Mitton (19.77m), Kiwi Maddison-Lee Wesche (19.25m) and Chinese Jiayuan Song (18.73m) led the advancing finalists respectively.

After her second Olympic performance for TT, Warren posted an inspirational message to X (formerly Twitter).

“It’s always an honour representing the red, white and black. I fell short today and will be the last time I fall short. This season taught me a lot and played a number on me mentally, but at the same time, I won’t have it any other way.

“I know that failure is not final, it’s the courage to keep pushing that counts. When it’s my time it will be my time. I will continue working hard, fighting through adversity and I will keep pushing no matter what.”

She added that the Paris Games taught her “way more than I could ever imagine” and the experience gained was “immeasurable.”

Warren also sounded an early warning for her event at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, USA.

“You haven’t seen the last of me. LA2028, watch out because I’m coming guns blazing and I will not be denied!”

Additionally, TT’s women’s 4x100m relay team was ousted in round one qualifying as they finished eighth in heat two of two.

Running out of lane two, the quartet of Paris Games women’s 100m semi-finalist Leah Bertrand, Akilah Lewis and 18-year old twin-siblings Sole and Sanaa Frederick clocked 43.99 seconds.

Lewis ran the first leg in a relatively slow 12.14 at the hand-off while Sole (10.67) ran the second leg, with Sanaa (10.89) third and Bertrand (10.29) on the anchor leg.

In a Sportsmax interview after the race, the youthful quartet — all Olympic debutants — was pleased with their first Olympic stint, and believes their performance is just the start of bigger things to come.

Lewis said, “I think we had a good race with the time we had and the experience. We have a really young team. I’m really excited for the next coming Games, to be with them (team-mates).”

Bertrand added, “I have a similar feeling. This is a young team and the first of many races to come.”

Sole chimed in saying, “I’m really glad that we all ran together and we executed really well. We have many more games to come so I can’t wait to run with them.”

Sanaa said, “I felt it was really good and this is all our first time running together. It’s just very special and we are the future so we’ll be back for Olympics.”

With just two more Olympic events for team TT, cyclists Nicholas Paul and Kwesi Browne, and the men’s 4x400m relay team of Jereem Richards, who was fourth in the men’s 400m final on August 7, Renny Quow, Jaden Marchan, Shakeem Mc Kay and Elijah Joseph (reserve) remain the nation’s last medal hopes in Paris.

The 4x400m relay team contests heat one of two on August 9 from 5:05am (TT time). They run out of lane nine. The first three finishers in each heat advances to the final, in addition to the next two fastest times.

TT’s cycling pair also begin their men’s keirin qualification on August 10 from 11.19 am.

This story was originally published with the title Keshorn Walcott 7th in Olympic javelin final and has been updated to include additional details. See original post below.

Trinidad and Tobago’s two-time Olympic medallist Keshorn Walcott was unable to replicate another podium performance at the Paris Games as he finished in a still credible seventh at the Stade de France.

Walcott threw a season’s best distance of 86.16 metres on his first attempt, which eventually, was his best distance achieved over four of his six designated throws.

The Toco-bred athlete was the third thrower in the final and was in gold medal position after the first round of throws from the 12 finalists.

However, it all changed in the second round as Pakistani Arshad Nadeem smashed the Olympic record, and rallied on to win gold, with his mammoth 92.97m attempt.

Tokyo 2020 champion Neeraj Chopra (India) threw 89.45m and held on for silver with this distance while Grenadian Anderson Peters launched a hefty 87.87m in the second round to surpass Walcott. He eventually took bronze with 88.54m in the fourth round.

Czech Republic’s Jakub Vadlejch was fourth with 88.50m on his third attempt while Kenyan Julius Yego took fifth with 87.72m in round two. German Julian Weber finished sixth with 87.40m from his fifth throw.

Walcott fouled his second throw, got 82.89m on his third, threw 78.96m in round four and 76.86m in round five. He opted out of the final attempt.

Walcott won gold at the 2012 London Games and then bronze in Rio De Janeiro four years later. He is TT’s last Olympic medallist since the Olympic team went medal-less in Tokyo, and are yet to etch the TT flag atop a podium in Paris.