Richards, drawn on the inside in lane two, will bid to become only the third Trinidad and Tobago athlete to grab a podium spot in the longer sprint. Edwin Roberts finished third in the 1964 Tokyo Games men’s 200 final. Ato Boldon emulated Roberts at Atlanta 1996, and repeated the feat four years la_ter in Sydney.

Richards secured his Tokyo 2020 championship race lane on time after crossing the line third in yesterday’s third semi-final heat, in a season’s best 20.10 seconds. Andre de Grasse scorched the track in 19.73 – a new Canadian record – to win the heat, with the other auto_matic qualifying berth going to American Kenny Bednarek in 19.83.

“I knew I had to give it all or nothing,” Richards told the Express. “I had one of the hardest semi-_finals, but the good thing was that I had the last one, so I could have seen what was run before my heat.”

When he got home third, Richards knew the time to beat was 20.16 seconds – the clocking produced by Nigeria’s Divine Oduduru in finishing third in heat one. Richards was able to breathe a sigh of relief when his time was posted.

“I feel elated. I’m proud. Thank God. I went out there, I gave it my all, and I still feel pretty good.”

Richards earned 200m bronze at the 2017 World Championships in London, England. But two years later, in Doha, Qatar, “The Dream” fell short in his bid to qualify for a second World Championship half-lap final. The Tokyo 2020 semi-final effort was a redemption run.

“A lot of people wouldn’t know, but after that Doha final, I cried like a baby. I worked hard all of 2020 and told myself we need to make it to the Olympic final. I prayed for this, and a lot of hard work and confidence went into this. I’m just thankful that it all worked out.”

Seventeen-year-old American sprint sensation Erriyon Knighton topped yesterday’s opening heat in 20.02 seconds, finishing ahead of Jamaica’s Rasheed Dwyer (20.13) and Oduduru. Canadian Aaron Brown won heat two in 19.99, the same time clocked by second-place Joseph Fahnbulleh of Liberia and third-place American Noah Lyles. A mere one-thousandth of a second separated the three sprinters. Like Richards, Lyles progressed to the final on time.

In the opening round of the half-_lap event, Richards won heat two in 20.52 seconds to advance to the semis. While the run itself was successful, the lead-up to Richards’ first-ever Olympic race was a challenging experience.

“I was scared. Not because of my physical fitness or mental fitness, but it just hit me that this is the Olympic Games.”

Richards got over his initial fear, successfully negotiating two rounds of racing to hand himself a shot at Olympic glory.

“I feel really good, very energetic. Who could tell what will happen in the final? I’m just going to trust God, trust in the process and go out there and try to get a medal. I have real gas in the tank right now. Thanks to my family, friends, everyone that supported me thus far this year and prayed for me. Keep me in your prayers.”

Another T&T sprinter, Kyle Greaux, bowed out in the opening round of the men’s 200 metres. Greaux finished fourth in heat three in 20.77 seconds.

“I had knee surgery early in 2020,” Greaux told the Express, “so with the pandemic, it gave me time. I thought I would have been prepared, but apparently, it’s something that takes a lot more time. I came here not expecting anything grand, but I’m thankful for the opportunity to represent Trinidad and Tobago. It’s always a proud moment. But I’m very disappointed in how things worked out.

“I’ll definitely be back to the full Kyle Greaux next year, please God. Jereem and I, as well as the other teammates, try to compete as best as we could. But we want to give more. We want to put some medals on the table for Trinidad and Tobago.”

In today’s Tokyo 2020 half-lap final, Richards will have the opportunity to add to Team TTO’s all-time Olympic medal haul.