Jereem “The Dream” Richards, Keshorn Walcott and the men’s 4×100 metres relay team were all golden at the Jorge “El Magico” Gonzalez National Stadium in San Salvador, El Salvador, late on Thursday.

The track and field gold rush, together with women’s 4×1 silver, took the Trinidad and Tobago medal haul at the 2023 Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games to 17 – seven gold, six silver, four bronze.

Richards was too strong for his rivals, the T&T track star cruising to victory in the men’s 400 metres final in a personal best 44.54 seconds. St Lucia’s Michael Joseph snapped up silver in 44.90, with bronze going to Martinique’s Gilles Biron, who got home in 45.06.

Richards spread his arms in celebration as he crossed the line and then saluted the crowd. The impressive 44.54 run earned him 12th spot on the 2023 world outdoor performance list. Richards is now sixth on the all-time T&T men’s 400 list.

Machel Cedenio is at the top with his 44.01 seconds national record run, followed by Ian Morris at 44.21, the late Deon Lendore (44.36), Lalonde Gordon (44.52), Renny Quow (44.53) and Richards.

Walcott dominated the men’s javelin, his winning throw of 83.60 metres giving him a huge cushion on Mexican David Carreon, the silver medallist at 78.03. Jamaica’s Elvis Graham bagged bronze with a 76.43 effort.

Walcott, the 2018 CAC Games champion, successfully defended his title with the 83.60 second round throw. The 2012 Olympic champion had two other legal efforts in the competition – 77.68 in the opening round and 76.90 in round four.

T&T sprinters Kion Benjamin, Devin Augustine, Carlon Hosten and Eric Harrison Jr combined for men’s 4×1 victory in 38.30 seconds. Dominican Republic (38.61) and Venezuela (39.13) secured silver and bronze, respectively.

T&T captured silver in the women’s 4×1, Reyare Thomas, Sanaa Frederick, Akilah Lewis and Leah Bertrand teaming up for a 43.43 seconds run. Cuba grabbed gold in 43.17, with bronze going to Dominican Republic (43.45).

Cherisse Murray finished fifth in the women’s shot put, the T&T athlete throwing the iron ball 16.59m. Dominican Republic’s Rosa Ramirez was golden at 17.89.

After press time last night, T&T’s Kelsey Daniel competed in the men’s triple jump. Also on show was the T&T men’s 4×4 team.

In chess, T&T’s Joshua Johnson snapped up silver on Wednesday in the men’s first rapid board competition. Johnson was 14th in the men’s first blitz board.

Gabriella Johnson finished ninth in the women’s first rapid board and 11th in the women’s first blitz board. Hayden Lee was 14th in the men’s second rapid board and 15th in the men’s second blitz board. And Adaya Johnson was 16th in both the women’s second rapid board and second blitz board events.

After press time, last night, T&T faced Jamaica in the women’s netball title decider. Both teams went into the round robin contest unbeaten. Late Thursday, T&T crushed Cayman Islands 90-12, Shaniya Morgan leading the way with 38 goals from 50 attempts. Afeisha Noel chipped in with 32 goals. On Wednesday, T&T had beaten St Vincent and the Grenadines 60-30.

T&T finished fifth in the men’s water polo competition. In yesterday’s fifth-place playoff, T&T stopped El Salvador 17-12. Christopher Forte scored eight times for T&T. Jean-Luc Hinds and Jonathan Gillette chipped in with four goals each, while Yannick Robertson scored once.

T&T went under 11-23 to Venezuela in Wednesday’s quarterfinal contest, but bounced back to defeat Guatemala 16-8 in their 5-8 classification match, on Thursday.

In cycling, Akil Campbell returned a time of three hours, 51 minutes, 13 seconds to finish sixth in the men’s road race. His T&T teammate, Tariq Woods was a non-finisher in the 166.4km event. Alexi Costa-Ramirez, the lone T&T representative in the 107.8km women’s road race, was 19th in 2:54:09.

T&T’s Christopher Richards Jr shot a level par 72 in yesterday’s fourth and final round of the men’s golf tournament to finish with a five over par 293, the score earning him sixth spot.

T&T will play El Salvador from 11am today for seventh spot in the women’s volleyball competition. In yesterday’s 5-8 classification match, Mexico beat T&T 25-15, 25-18, 25-22. Jalicia Ross-Kydd had nine points for T&T – eight spikes and one block. Krystle Esdelle notched eight points – five spikes and three blocks.

In their final group “B” match, on Thursday, T&T went under to Cuba 16-25, 17-25, 17-25.

Nikoli Blackman was a non-starter in the open water men’s 10km race. Blackman, who finished 14th in Wednesday’s 5km swim in one hour, four minutes, 31 seconds, leaves San Salvador with two medals – men’s 200m freestyle silver and men’s 4×100 free bronze.

In Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, on Thursday, Nicholas Robinson finished seventh in the men’s single kayak 1,000 metres event in four minutes, 16.64 seconds. In the men’s double kayak 500m event, the T&T combination of Nicholas and Matthew Robinson clocked 1:55.64 for 10th spot overall. At 9.30 this morning, Nicholas competes in the men’s single kayak 200m heats.

In taekwondo, Daniel Dasent-Thompson suffered a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Colombia’s Luis Soto in their men’s +80-kilogrammes quarterfinal bout, on Wednesday. Dasent-Thompson’s T&T teammate, Dorian Alexander went under 1-2 to Guatemala’s Diego Montufar in a men’s -68kg round of 16 contest, on Thursday.