Ace Trinidad and Tobago sprinter Jereem Richards grabbed a fourth-place finish in a competitive 400-metre field at the NYC Grand Prix at the Icahn Stadium, New York City on Sunday – dipping below the 45.00-second Olympic standard in the process.

Running out of lane four, Richards came into the straightaway in contention for a top-three spot, but 2012 400-metre Olympic gold medallist Kirani James (44.55 seconds) had the final say as he grabbed the top spot, thanks to a typically strong, surging finish. It was also a season's best clocking for the Grenadian three-time Olympic medallist.

Running out of lane seven, US athlete Chris Bailey also had a powerful finish, and made up considerable ground in the final 60 metres to storm past Richards and Wayde Van Niekerk to take second spot in 44.73 seconds. Van Niekerk, the 400-metre world record holder and 2016 Olympic champion, was edged into third spot by Bailey, coming in at 44.74 seconds.

Richards finished in a season's best time of 44.82 seconds and just missed out on a podium spot.

The 30-year-old Richards, who won the 400-metre World Indoor Championship title in 2022, is expected to be one of TT's medal hopefuls at this year's Olympics in Paris. On June 1, at the Racers Grand Prix in Jamaica, Richards achieved the Olympic standard in the 200-metre event when he clocked 20.13 seconds to take first place.

Last month, alongside the trio of Asa Guevara, Che Lara and Shakeem McKay, Richards helped TT book Olympic qualification in the men's 4x400-metre relay at the World Athletic Relay Championship in Bahamas.

On the individual front, Richards said he will compete in either the 200-metre or 400-metre events at the Paris games. However, he's yet to decide on the discipline he'll contest at the July 26-August 11 games.

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