Trinidad and Tobago’s Jereem Richards executed his best performance ever over the 400m distance, on his way to winning gold on day two of the Tom Jones Memorial Classic at the Percy Beard Track in Gainesville, Florida, on Saturday.

In the Men’s Olympic Development 400m, Richards powered to victory in a personal best time of 44.68 seconds.

He crossed the finish line ahead of Bahamian silver medallist Alonzo Russell, who also ran a personal best of 44.73s, and his Adidas teammate Noah Williams (45.22s) of the US.

Richards’ golden finish was the second of his outdoor season after partnering Adi Pure teammates Williams, Josephus Lyles and Noah Lyles, to victory in the men’s 4x400m event at the Olympic Development division of the Pepsi Florida Relays, at the same venue, two weeks ago.

After his historic run, the Prime Minister sent Richards a congratulatory message on Facebook.

“Congratulations to Jereem Richards on his new personal best of 44.68s. Jereem Richards won the first section of the men’s 400m at the Tom Jones Invitational on Saturday,” Dr Rowley posted.

On day one on Friday, TT sprinter Eric Harrison earned silver in the men’s 200m Olympic Development race.

Harrison placed second in heat one of the timed finals in 20.75s, behind Noah Lyles (20.16s). England’s Jona Efoloko bagged bronze in 20.87s as the top three finishers eventually emerged from heat one.

Additionally, three TT athletes – Naomi Campbell, Leah Bertrand and Joanna Rogers – contested the women’s 200m timed final.

Running in heat ten out of 12, Campbell was third in 23.78s, but finished 48th overall. Bertrand contest hear eight and placed fourth in 23.96s, good enough for 58th. And in heat nine, Rogers was eighth in 25.26s, 89th overall.