Richards left disappointed by Eugene effort

EUGENE, Oregon:

It wasn't a happy outing for O'Dayne Richards in the men's discus competition at the Prefontaine Classic Diamond League track and field meeting at the University of Oregon's Hayward Field on Friday.

Despite making marginal gains, the Jamaican placed seventh after launching the metal ball 20.06 metres.

"It's an improvement on the last competition I had," Richards noted. "I went 20.06m, it was only three throws, but it's a step in the right direction."

What made it bad for the strongman was his inability to eliminate some of the same errors that have been slowing his progress this season. The sum total hurt on the scorecards, as only three of his throws registered for a score, less than half the amount measured for four of the first five throwers.

FLAWLESS

Three were flawless, getting all attempts without a foul. That's where the Jamaican fell short again.

"I guess nerves got the better of me, I was thinking too much on the last competition I had that I might replicate the same thing and it might have held me back for awhile ... I tried to get over it in the next couple of throws.

"The last competition I had some bad calls and the result showed, 19.8," he recalled. "I didn't want to come here and throw 19 again. Unfortunately, I did for my first throw, so I guess it played on my mind a little."

He put the ball 19.84 metres with his second throw, in-between similar 20.6 efforts with his first and fourth.

A foul call on the third never helped and while his opponents' throwing got better, his went in the other direction.

"I just need to get more throws in and once I do that my confidence will grow and I'll start to do better.

"If I do more throws I'll get it down. It's something you have to spend a lot of time with and you'll get it."

It appeared to have been the case with Joe Kovacs, who nailed all seven throws on the way to claiming first, with 22.12m. David Storl had a 21.92 for second, while Ryan Whiting counted two fouls but claimed third with 21.37, while Tom Walsh (20.81) and Tomasz Majewski (20.23) were clean in the circle.