CHE RICHARDS LANDS BRITISH TITLE

Che Richards grabbed men's long jump gold at the 2017 British Universities & Colleges Sport (BUCS) Indoor Championships, in Sheffield, England, on Sunday. The Trinidad and Tobago athlete disturbed the sand at 7.46 metres for a comfortable cushion on Great Britain's Joshua Olawore, the silver medallist with a 7.29m leap.

Richards was at his best in Saturday's preliminaries, the University of Edinburgh (Scotland) student jumping a personal best 7.64m to lead all qualifiers into the finals. He was just five centimetres short of the 7.69m Championship record, established in 2010 by Briton Matthew Burton. Richards' previous best was 7.53m.

Competing indoors for the very first time in his career, Richards enjoyed a very successful season. The 19-year-old athlete was crowned Scottish long jump champion, captured gold in the long jump and 60 metres dash at the Scottish University Championships, and then closed off his 2017 indoor campaign with Sunday's BUCS Championship long jump triumph.

Richards, who chose to study at Edinburgh after winning an Open National Scholarship in 2015, will now focus on getting ready for his 2017 outdoor campaign.

“BUCS was my last indoor meet,” he told the Express, yesterday. “It's back to the hard training in preparation for the outdoor season.”

Article by By Kwame Laurence - Trinidad Express