T&T’s Jereem “The Dream” Richards will race for gold after qualifying for the final of the men’s 200 metres dash at the World Athletics Track and FieldChampionships in the United States.

The medal race will take off Thursday night at 10.50 pm (T&T time) with the local sprinter lining up in lane two at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon.

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 and national 200m champion, followed to the line American pair Noah Lyles, the defending champion, and Kenneth Bednarek in the fastest of the three semifinal heats, qualifying for the finale with the fourth-best time overall.

Lyles, the Tokyo Olympic Games 200m bronze medallist, was the fastest qualifier, winning with a blazing time of 19.62, comfortably ahead of Bednarek, the Tokyo Olympics silver medallist, in second with a season’s best 19.84. Luxolo Adams of South Africa, who placed fourth in heat two with 20.09, was the seventh-best among the eight competitors who advanced to the final.

The start list for today’s final, in order of appearance, is Adams, Richards, who enters with a season’s best 19.83, USA’s Erriyon Knighton, Dominican Republic’s Alexander Ogando, Bednarek, Lyles, Liberia’s Joseph Fahnbulleh and Aaron Brown of Canada.

Knighton was the second-fastest qualifier, cruising to victory in the third semifinal in 19.77 ahead of Brown, the eighth-best, with 20.10. Knighton owns the fastest 200m time this year. The 18-year-old ran the fourth-fastest men’s 200m ever at the Louisiana State University Invitational with 19.49, a new world Under-20 record. Only Jamaicans, Usain Bolt (19.19), Yohan Blake (19.26) and American Michael Johnson (19.32) have run faster.

Ogando topped the first semifinal heat in a national record time of 19.91 followed by Liberia’s Joseph Fahnbulleh, the NCAA champion from the University of Florida, in 19.92. American Fred Kerley, who was hoping to complete a sprint double after claiming the gold medal in the 100m on Saturday, failed to qualify for the final after placing sixth in heat one with 20.68. It was reported that he sustained a cramp in his left leg coming out of the turn.

Earlier, in the women’s version of the race, the finalists were determined and they are running in the order of Mujinga Kambundji of Switzerland (22.05), Elaine Thompson-Herah of Jamaica (21.97), Dina Asher-Smith of Great Britain (21.96), Shericka Jackson of Jamaica (21.67), Tamara Clark of the United States (21.95), Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce of Jamaica (21.82), Aminatou Seyni of Nigeria (22.04) and American Abby Steiner (22.15).

Today, Keshorn Walcott, a two-time Olympic medallist – gold in London 2012 and bronze in Rio 2016, will also be in action for T&T in the men’s javelin qualification round, aiming to reach Sunday’s final.

On Saturday, Tyra Gittens, NCAA champion, leaps into action in the women’s long jump qualification in the early session while the men’s 4x400m relay team which includes Dwight St Hillaire, Richards, Asa Guevara, Shakeem McKay, Kashief King and Jerod Elcock will tackle the heats in the late session. Both finals are also scheduled for Sunday.

Result

Semifinal heat two

1 Noah Lyles (USA) – 19.62

2 USA Kenneth Bednarek (USA) – 19.84 SB

3 Jereem Richards (TTO) – 19.86

4 Luxolo Adams (South Africa) – 20.09

5 Tarsis Gracious Orogot (Uganda) – 20.35

6 Udodi Chudi Onwuzurike (Nigeria) – 20.39

7 Joe Ferguson (Great Britain) – 20.52

8 Guy Maganga Gorra (Gabon) – 20.65