Back to drawing board for Richards

DOHA, Qatar:

National champion O’Dayne Richards was left disappointed with his performance at the IAAF World Championships.

Richards, for the second straight major championships, failed to progress to the final in Doha, after also missing the cut at the London 2017 championships.

Richards, who also finished eighth in the final at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, won shot put bronze at the 2015 World Championships in Beijing, China, becoming the first and only Jamaican to medal in the event.

Things have, however, been rough for the Jamaican since then, with Richards only throwing 21.00m, or better, seven times since the end of the 2015 season. This includes his 21.96m national record, which was registered at the Rabat Diamond League meet.

Revisiting his approach

Richards, who could only manage 20.07m and a 12th-place finish here on Thursday, said that the poor results are based on a number of things he has been trying in terms of technique but believes that it’s time to revisit his approach after another poor campaign by his standards.

“I have been trying some other things to try and get faster and more powerful. Some of it worked, some of it is unfinished work, but, hopefully, for next year, we can get it done,” said Richards.

“It’s new competing this long, and to try and carry the power levels right throughout the year is quite difficult, but, hopefully, if ever there was to be a championship this late (in the season), I will be more prepared,” he added.

Turning his attention to his series, which saw him start out with a 19.75m put, followed by 19.02m before he achieved his best distance on the day with a 20.07m effort, Richards pointed to poor technical execution.

“It’s not the distance I was looking for. I was looking to get the auto (automatic qualifying mark of 20.90m), but unfortunately, it was not my day,” Richards said. “I think my timing was a little bit off. I think my power level was also a little bit too low, so I didn’t get the distance that I wanted.”

Richards noted that although he is disappointed with the result, he has enough experience to know how to process that and push himself to improvements.

“It’s very difficult to have a high expectation of yourself and not be fulfilling that. I would have liked to continually fulfil getting medals and doing well on the big stage, but sometimes you just have to press on. Sometimes learning experiences come with a bad hit, so I have to push past that and come again,” said Richards. “I am a bit disappointed, but I have been here before and I know what it takes to come back.