At approximately 7.08 am on Friday, Trinidad and Tobago track and field star athlete Jereem Richards will begin his world-title defence when he contests heat three of the men's 400-metre event at the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow, Scotland.
Richards will occupy lane five in the heat.
Hungary's Attila Molnar will run out of lane six. Molnar comes into the championships with a season-best time of 46.22 seconds – the best time among the heat three competitors this year.
With four heats being contested in the men's 400-metre event, the top two finishers in each heat and the runners with the next-four fastest times will advance to the semifinals, which will run off from 5.10 pm on Friday. The men's 400-metre final will be contested at 5.10 pm on Saturday.
Richards, 30, will hope to be among the starters on Saturday afternoon as he seeks to emulate his gold-medal performance at the 2022 championships in Belgrade, Serbia. Two years ago, he torched the Belgrade track to ascend to the top of the podium with a blistering championship-record run of 45.00 seconds.
US runner Trevor Bassitt placed second with a time of 45.05 seconds, with Sweden's Carl Bengtstrom claiming the bronze medal with a 45.33-second clocking.
The three-time Commonwealth Games gold medallist will also be looking to improve on his semifinal placing in the 400-metre event at the World Championships in Budapest, Hungary last August.
In January, Richards and ace female sprinter Michelle-Lee Ahye walked away with the top men's and women's awards at the National Association of Athletics Administrations (NAAA) awards ceremony when they were recognised for their performances throughout the 2023 season.
Ahye, who grabbed a bronze medal in the women's 100-metre event at the 2023 Pan American Games, will take her place among competitors in the 60-metre event in Glasgow on Saturday.
At the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Belgrade, Ahye finished seventh in the 60-metre final in 7.11 seconds.
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