Maroc - NEWSDAY.CO.TT - A la Une - 05/Aug 19:05

Keshorn Walcott ‘ready’ for Olympic javelin quest

Double-Olympic medallist Keshorn Walcott is “ready” to begin his quest in the opening round of men’s javelin qualification on August 6 from 4.20am (TT time). Walcott, 31, is the fourth of 16 throwers in Group A and will have six attempts at launching the spear over the automatic 84m qualifying distance at the Stade de France in Paris. There are 16 other contenders in Pool B and only those who match or surpass the qualifying mark, or at least the 12 best performers, progress to the final round. Walcott has thrown over 84m twice this season – 84.89m in Finland (June 22) and a season’s best of 85.22m in TT (June 29) – and will be hoping to possibly close off his decorated Olympic career with a place in the final, and a potential podium spot. In a short response via WhatsApp on August 5, Walcott said, “Just know all is well and I am ready.” Tokyo 2020 Olympic silver medalist and current world number one Jakub Vadlejch (Czech Republic) also vies for a spot in the medal event from Group A, alongside world number three and four, Julian Weber (Germany) and Oliver Helander (Finland). Reigning Olympic champion and world number two Neeraj Chopra (India) and Grenadian Anderson Peters compete out of Group B. This group begins their qualification round from 5.50am. Walcott won TT’s second-ever Olympic gold medal at the 2012 Games in London and captured bronze in Rio de Janeiro four years later. He missed out on a spot in the final in Tokyo but is intent on making amends this time, for his almost certain, final Olympic stint. Meanwhile, TT quarter-miler Jereem "The Dream: Richards returns to the track for the men’s 400m semi-final heats from 1.35pm. Richards runs out of lane seven in semi-final one of three. The first two finishers in each heat and the next fastest two times advance to the medal race. The final runs off on August 7 at 3.20pm. Richards is one of TT’s primary medal hopefuls for the Paris Games. On August 4, he advanced to the semi-final by placing second in heat two of six. There, he clocked 44.31 seconds and finished among the three automatic qualifiers. Despite him also qualifying for the men’s 200m, Richards opted out to focus on the 400m event. He will feature once more in the opening round of men’s 4x400m relay qualifying on August 9 from 5.05am. Additionally, on August 7, another premier medal hopeful, cyclist Nicholas Paul begins his opening round of men’s sprint qualification at the National Velodrome from 6.45am. The first stage of qualifying is the flying 200m event, of which Paul holds the current world record of a blistering 9.1 seconds. Also flying the red, white and black will be, like Paul, two-time Olympic cyclist Kwesi Browne. Both must post fast times in the first round to ensure the go on to the round of 32, which continues from 8am. The post Keshorn Walcott ‘ready’ for Olympic javelin quest appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.