T&T’s Keshorn Walcott finished eighth in the Group A of the qualification round in the men’s javelin event and missed out on advancing to the final at the World Athletics Track and Field Championships, on Thursday night, in Eugene, Oregon, in the United States.

The two-time Olympic medallist – gold in London 2012 and bronze in Rio 2016 – struggled from the first round. Walcott, who entered the competition with a season’s best (sb) of 90.16 metres, did not register a mark in his opening throw. He followed up in the second round, with a toss which measured 78.87 metres.

The T&T javelin thrower was hoping for a huge effort in the third round, to meet the automatic qualifying mark of 83.50m but he returned with a distance of 76.63 in the final round, leaving him to see what would play out in Group B of the event to advance by finishing among the best 12. However, after two rounds in Group B, six throwers were ahead of the Walcott eliminating him for the competition.

Indian Neearj Chopra, the reigning Olympic medallist, was one of two throwers who emerged as automatic qualifiers from Group A to the final. He went through with his first throw launching the spear a huge 88.39m. The other was Czech Republic’s Jakub Vadlejch, who went past the qualifying mark with 85.23.

Placing ahead of Walcott in Group B were Egyptian Ihab Abdelrahman (83.41), Japan’s Roderick Genki Dean (82.34-sb), USA’s Curtis Thompson (81.73), Lassi EtelŠtalo of Finland (80.03) and Latvian Rolands Strobinders (79.39), respectively.

In the feature event last night, T&T’s Jereem “The Dream” Richards was scheduled to race for gold in the men’s 200 metres final.

Richards, who is the first T&T athlete at the Championships to reach a final, finished third in the second semifinal heat with a time of 19.82 seconds on Tuesday night, to earn a spot in today’s 200m final. The top two finishers in each heat earned automatic berths into the medal race along with the next two fastest times.

Richards, the reigning World Indoors 400m champion, was to face a tough field which included American trio Noah Lyles, the defending champion, Kenneth Bednarek and Erriyon Knighton as well as Luxolo Adams of South Africa, Dominican Republic’s Alexander Ogando, Liberia’s Joseph Fahnbulleh and Aaron Brown of Canada.

Multi-sport athlete Tyra Gittens will be in action in the early session on the penultimate day of the World Championships in the women’s long jump qualification, tomorrow.

So too, the men’s relay team of Dwight St Hillaire, Richards, Asa Guevara, Shakeem McKay, Kashief King and Jerod Elcock, who line up in the heats of the 4x400m relay event in the late session.

Both will be aiming to reach the finals which are scheduled on the final day, Sunday.