Great Britain’s Jeremiah Azu (centre) races away from Jamaica’s Rohan Watson (left) and Puerto Rico’s Eloy Benitez in the men’s 60m final during the World Athletics Indoor Championships.
Surprised Richards cherishes World Indoor bronze medal
Jamaica’s Raymond Richards says he was surprised to win Jamaica’s second bronze medal in the men’s high jump in the World Athletics Indoor Championships after he finished third in the event on day one at the Nanjing Cube in Nanjing, China.
Richards cleared 2.28m at his first-ever international championships to open Jamaica’s medal account, matching the late Germaine Mason’s third-place finish in Budapest, Hungary, in 2004.
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Richards, who was one of four Jamaicans who contested a final on the first day of the championships, said: “I did not expect to win a medal here.” He added he had spent the previous 24 hours getting prepared for the event.
Richards, who is tied at number two with Romaine Beckford on the all-time Jamaican men’s high jump ranking at 2.30m, said he was motivated by the bronze medal.
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“The result tonight gave me great motivation, to go back home and inspire the young ones and inspire myself,” he was quoted as saying. “I am very glad that I can be part of the team that proves my country can also do field events and put my name in the history books.”
The UTech and MVP Track Club representative, who had cleared 2.31m at the Queen’s/Grace Jackson meet earlier in the year, admitted he still had some work to do if he was to go higher. But he said doing well at the World Indoor Championships has given him confidence.
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The former Buff Bay High athlete needed only one attempt to get through the first three heights — 2.14m, 2.20m and 2.24m — before clearing 2.28m on his second attempt.
Korea’s Sanghyeok Woo won the gold medal with 2.31m, equalling his season’s best.
Richards was one of four men to clear 2.28m as New Zealand’s Hamish Kerr took second on count back, while American Elijah Kosiba was fourth and Oleh Doroshchuk of Ukraine was fifth.
Jamaica’s other competitor, Olympic finalist Beckford, placed ninth, clearing the opening height of 2.14m.
Triple jumper Jordan Scott was upgraded to fourth place from fifth after his protest against Brazilian Almir Dos Santos was upheld. Rohan Watson was fifth in the men’s 60m final and Lloyricia Cameron was 13th in the women’s shot put final.
Quarter-milers Rusheen McDonald and Leah Anderson failed to get past the semi-finals in the men’s and women’s 400m, respectively.
Scott, the former NCAA Division1 Indoor champion, started slowly with a foul on his first attempt but completed a solid series, getting over the 17.00m mark twice in the competition and was as high as fourth place after the fourth round.
He also had marks of 16.55m in the second round that saw him move into the top eight, then 16.25m before his big jump in the fourth round that saw him move into fourth.
Scott followed up with his second best jump of 17.04m before ending with 16.86m.
Italy’s Andy Garcia, who jumped a world-leading 17.80m in the opening round, his only legal mark of the competition, won the gold medal ahead of China’s Yaming Zhu who had a season best 17.33m. Last year’s winner Hugues Fabrice Zango of Burkino Faso benefited from Dos Santos’ disqualification as he took the bronze with a season’s best 17.15m, ironically passing Scott in the final round.
In the format that was used for all field events, the top 10 of 15 starters advanced after the first three rounds with a further two dropping out after the fourth round and an additional two after the fifth round.
After winning his first-round heat and then placing second in the semi-final, Watson battled to fifth in the men’s 60m final, running 6.59 seconds. It was Watson’s first major global individual final.
He had run 6.54 in the first round contested in the morning session and then 6.58 in the semis.
Great Britain’s European Indoor Championships gold medal winner Jeremiah Azu won the men’s 60m final in a personal best equalling 6.49, ahead of Australia’s Lachlan Kennedy (6.50) and South Africa’s Akani Simbine (6.54), who was running indoors for the first time.
Cameron had her best effort of 17.43m in the first round and 17.14m in the second round before fouling her third attempt and did not survive the first cut.
McDonald, who had won the bronze in Glasgow, Scotland, last year, made it past the first round of the men’s 400m as one of the fastest non-automatic qualifiers with a season’s best 46.72.
He could only manage 47.22 in the semi-finals, placing fifth in his race.
A lack of sufficient entries saw the scrapping of the first round in the women’s 400m, but after starting well, Anderson faded over the final 50 metres and ended up fourth in 52.86.
Jamaica’s Raymond Richards (right), South Korea’s Woo Sang-hyeok (centre) and New Zealand’s Hamish Kerr pose for photographs at the men’s high jump medal ceremony during the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Nanjing, in eastern China’s Jiangsu province, on Friday. (Photos: AFP)
