Jereem Richards in action at the World Athletics Indoor Tour meeting in Boston (© Victah Sailer)
Jereem Richards and Trevor Bassitt head into the 400m at the World Athletics Indoor Championships Belgrade 22 undefeated this year. Though that doesn't quite tell the full story.
Richards, the 2017 world 200m bronze medallist, has raced just once this year, but his 400m victory at the World Indoor Tour Gold meeting on Staten Island was highly convincing. The sprinter from Trinidad and Tobago smashed his PB by more than half a second, clocking 45.83. He hasn't competed since then, but he will be racing in honour of his friend and teammate Deon Lendore, the 2016 world indoor bronze medallist in this event, who sadly and tragically died in a car crash earlier this year.
Bassitt, however, will be a formidable opponent. The 24-year-old has won all 21 of his races - heats and final - so far this year, across a range of five disciplines. Most of those victories have been in collegiate meets, including his 45.36 win on an oversized track at the NCAA Division Two Championships, but he also won the US indoor crown in 45.75.
This, however, will be Bassitt's first major championships, whereas Richards has been competing at global events for more than a decade.
Other runners who will fancy their chances include a few who may not have produced their finest form so far this season, but whose personal bests offer evidence of their talent and potential.
Jamaica’s Christopher Taylor, for instance, has a best of 45.73. Noah Williams, the 23-year-old United States runner, is the only sub-45.00 indoor athlete in the field, having run 44.71 indoors last year.
But winning medals is about more than superfast personal bests – as the long experience of Pavel Maslak bears out. For almost a decade this Czech Republic athlete, now 31, has been a master of the indoor 400m, having secured European indoor golds in 2013, 2015 and 2017 and world indoor golds in 2014, 2016 and 2018.
While he has not been winning on the circuit this season, during which he has run a best of 46.70, no one would think of ruling him out of contention as he defends the title he won in Birmingham four years ago after the first two men home, Oscar Husillos of Spain and Luguelin Santos of the Dominican Republic, were disqualified for stepping out of their lanes.
Another name that demands serious attention is Bruno Hortelano-Roig of Spain. Born to Spanish parents in Australia, where his father was completing a PhD, Hortelano-Roig, now 30, experienced a gamut of sports while attending Cornell University in the United States, including taekwondo, soccer and American football.
But it soon became clear that athletics was his strongest suit, and at the 2016 European Championships in Amsterdam he won 200m gold after setting a Spanish record of 20.39 in the semifinals.
Two years later he was part of the Spanish team that earned 4x400m bronze at the Berlin European Championships. His indoor 400m personal best of 46.02 was established this year. How much faster can he go?
Liemarvin Bonevacia of the Netherlands had been among the big favourites, but withdrew on the eve of the championships after sustaining a hamstring injury.
Mike Rowbottom for World Athletics
