O’Dayne Richards begins shot put medal hunt

Jamaica’s O’Dayne Richards is expected to book his place in the final of the shot put at the 15th IAAF World Championships when he takes to the field in the qualifiers at 9:05 p.m. Saturday.

The MVP athlete is a medal contender, having thrown a new national record and a new Pan-American Games Record of 21.69m, the third best in the world so far this year.

The Pan-Am record landed Richards gold in July.

He has stated that his aim is to reach the 22-metre mark at the championships.

The 26-year-old will face his toughest challenge from American Joe Kovacs who leads with 22.56m and Germany's David Storl with 22.20m.

Christain Cantwell has the fourth longest throw coming in at 21.64m.