Before he settled into his blocks, he thought of him, and tried his best to hold back the tears.
It was Sunday afternoon in New York, and Jereem Richards couldn&rsquo;t help think how Deon Lendore &ndash; his close friend and long-time teammate with Trinidad and Tobago &ndash; was supposed to be in this race.
But instead the 29-year-old was gone, the three-time Olympian killed in a car accident just a few weeks earlier &ndash; his career, his life, expired so tragically early that it was still too terrifying a truth to comprehend.
In those pre-race moments, his mind a raging storm of emotion, Richards thought of what Lendore might say.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I heard Deon&rsquo;s voice in my head,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;It was like, &lsquo;Boy, you have to run a race! Get your mind together. Don&rsquo;t think about me too much&rsquo;.&rdquo;
This was something Richards did many times in the weeks before the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix, picturing what Lendore might say if he was watching him unleash all those tears.
&ldquo;Knowing the type of funny, smiling person he was, I know he wouldn&rsquo;t want us to be sad for too long,&rdquo; says Richards. &ldquo;I know he&rsquo;s probably looking down at us, and when I was crying he was probably saying, &lsquo;What are you crying for?&rsquo; He was that type of guy and now, when I think about him, it makes me smile, it makes me laugh.&rdquo; 
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 To understand what Lendore meant to Richards, you have to go back to 2009. Lendore was 16 at the time and already competing internationally for Trinidad and Tobago. Richards was a couple of years younger, looking to Lendore as a trailblazer. They were teammates for the first time at the 2010 Carifta Games and, ever since, Lendore was &ldquo;an inspiration, a brother&rdquo; to Richards.
&ldquo;I could call on him at any point in time and he&rsquo;d be there, giving you advice and helping you out.&rdquo;
A few years later they became members of the same athletics club &ndash; Abilene Wildcats in Arima &ndash; and would train together when Lendore was back home between semesters at Texas A&amp;M University. In the NCAA Lendore was making a name as one of the world&rsquo;s most promising talents, winning the Bowerman Award in 2014 after capturing NCAA indoor and outdoor titles over 400m.
&ldquo;Seeing the breakthroughs and victories, the impact he made in college, it showed me a path to success,&rdquo; says Richards. &ldquo;Deon was the pioneer. He wrote the master plan and showed it to us. &lsquo;If someone from my country, a small country, can do this, I can do it too.&rsquo; He ignited a fire in so many of my generation: we believed anything was possible.&rdquo;
Richards followed a similar path as Lendore to the NCAA, studying at South Plains College in Texas and then the University of Alabama, where he lowered his 200m best to 19.97 before turning professional in 2017.
In the years since, Lendore remained based at Texas A&amp;M, where he worked part-time as a volunteer assistant coach, while Richards trained with Lance Brauman&rsquo;s group in Florida &ndash; the two staying in touch all the time.
&ldquo;He was a good mentor, you could call him and tell him you&rsquo;re running a 400, ask him to help you out with a race plan,&rdquo; says Richards. &ldquo;When I made my first (national) team, I was scared, but he&rsquo;d say something to make you laugh, encourage you and make you focused on your performance for your country, your teammates, your family.&rdquo;
Over the years they went to multiple championships together, most recently the Tokyo Olympics, where Lendore was fourth in the 400m semi-final and Richards eighth in the 200m final, the pair then teaming up to help Trinidad and Tobago to eighth in the 4x400m final. 
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&nbsp;
&ldquo;Deon was the first person I&rsquo;d love to see on (international trips) because he&rsquo;d always make you laugh,&rdquo; says Richards. &ldquo;You&rsquo;d always hope he&rsquo;s in the same apartment as you because he was the life of the party. Everyone would come to whatever room he was in and chill out.&rdquo;
Richards remembers Lendore&rsquo;s habit of always taking snacks with him wherever he went, or hauling around his Normatec recovery leggings. Whether they were together or apart, they&rsquo;d bond through a shared love of computer games, playing FIFA or Fortnite.
&ldquo;He was a clutch player in Fortnite,&rdquo; laughs Richards. &ldquo;If all his teammates died out, he was the one to win the game for us.&rdquo;
Lendore was like that on the track, too.
One of Richards&rsquo; favourite memories is the 2019 World Relays in Yokohama, where they powered Trinidad and Tobago to victory in the 4x400m. 
<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/EksT7mjtw1I" width="100%" height="475" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
 &ldquo;He ran the hell out of that,&rdquo; says Richards. &ldquo;One thing I always remember, regardless of what lane, what leg, Deon was always going to sacrifice himself and give 100% for everyone on the team.&rdquo;
At the 2018 World Indoor Championships in Birmingham, Trinidad and Tobago drew lane one in the final and Lendore could sense his teammates&rsquo; blues once that news came through.
&ldquo;Deon was like, &lsquo;Don&rsquo;t worry about it, I&rsquo;ll get the baton to you in good position&rsquo;,&rdquo; says Richards. &ldquo;He gave it to me in third from lane one, which is very difficult, but knowing you have a teammate willing to do that gives you the motivation to do the same.&rdquo;
It was Monday, 10 January when Richards&rsquo; world was turned upside down &ndash; one of his and Lendore&rsquo;s training partners calling him to tell him about the three-car crash Lendore had been in on his way home from practice. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Richards could only think of one thing during that call: &ldquo;This can&rsquo;t be true.&rdquo;
While they were speaking, his coach from back home was also trying to call and that&rsquo;s when reality set in.
&ldquo;I realised: this might be true,&rdquo; says Richards. &ldquo;I was afraid to answer the phone. When I did, the first thing I said to the coach was, &lsquo;Please tell me it&rsquo;s not true.&rsquo; He said, &lsquo;Yes, it&rsquo;s true.&rsquo;&rdquo;
In the days after, Richards was contacted by a number of journalists, all apologetically asking for comment, but he simply couldn&rsquo;t summon the words to pay tribute to his friend. Only now, several weeks later, does he feel ready to speak about Lendore&rsquo;s passing.
&ldquo;Outside of my real family, he&rsquo;s the only person who can relate to my lifestyle as we have so many things alike,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;It was definitely something very hard to deal with, but every day after I felt a little bit better.&rdquo;
On Staten Island, New York, last month at the World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold meeting, Richards turned in a performance that would have made his friend most proud. He powered to the front at the bell, then held off a strong field to smash his indoor 400m PB and win in 45.83. 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/6091846136595b9d02bc36f4.jpg" alt="" width="100%" />
 &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a blessing from God,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;To give tribute to my friend Deon.&rdquo;
In weeks and months ahead, he plans to do so more times, dedicating every performance this year to Lendore. He&rsquo;ll next be on the start line at the World Athletics Indoor Championships Belgrade 22.
While he&rsquo;d like to dabble in the 400m in the outdoor season and finally crack the 45-second barrier, he figures the 200m will remain his focus for the World Athletics Championships Oregon22.&nbsp;
&ldquo;The goal is to be the best I can be, on and off the track,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll do my best to finish on the podium every time I compete; I always want to put my name down in the history books.&rdquo;
Much of that attitude was forged from his friendship with Lendore.
After the interview ends, the recording device switched off, Richards goes on to explain how the best way for those who knew Lendore to keep his spirit and legacy alive is to carry some of his traits in their everyday lives.
He then asks to turn the recorder back on, so one final point can be included.
&ldquo;If you knew Deon Lendore, it was a blessing,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;The effect he had on people was magical. He could make anyone smile, anyone laugh, anyone comfortable. People like him only come along once in a blue moon.
&ldquo;He was a one-of-a-kind person.&rdquo;
Cathal Dennehy for World Athletics

Following the tragic death of teammate and friend Deon Lendore, Jereem Richards has found a new purpose

Richards aiming to keep Lendore’s legacy alive

World Athletics is deeply saddened to hear that Trinidad and Tobago&rsquo;s Olympic and world 4x400m medallist Deon Lendore has died at the age of 29.
The three-time Olympian, who anchored his nation to relay bronze at the 2012 Games in London, also claimed two world indoor 400m bronze medals and a 4x400m medal of the same colour.
Born in Mt Hope on 28 October 1992, the sprinter started out at local club Abilene Wildcats before moving to the United States to take up a scholarship at Texas A&amp;M University.
He made his global debut at the 2009 World U18 Championships in Bressanone and competed at the World U20 Championships in Moncton in 2010. The following year he ran at his first senior World Athletics Championships in Daegu and less than 12 months later, at the age of 19, he made his Olympic debut in London. &nbsp;
After racing in the 400m heats in the UK capital, Lendore helped the Trinidad and Tobago team to two national 4x400m records, as they first won their heat and then improved again to claim the bronze medal behind the Bahamas and USA, with Lendore holding off Great Britain&rsquo;s Martyn Rooney on the anchor leg.
He dipped under 45 seconds for 400m for the first time in 2013, running 44.94 to claim NCAA silver, and improved to his PB of 44.36 the following year. Lendore was unbeaten in individual events in 2014, counting the NCAA 400m titles among his victories, and he later received The Bowerman award. The 45.03 PB he ran indoors that year remains the national record.
Lendore claimed his first world medal in 2015, when he formed part of Trinidad and Tobago&rsquo;s silver medal-winning squad in Beijing, and he secured two world indoor medals the following year, gaining bronze in both the 400m and 4x400m in Portland. He repeated his 400m feat indoors in Birmingham two years later and in 2019 he ran the opening leg as part of Trinidad and Tobago's winning 4x400m performance at the World Athletics Relays in Yokohama.
After his second Olympic appearance in Rio in 2016,&nbsp;Lendore competed at his third Games in Tokyo in 2021, helping his team to eighth place in the 4x400m final and reaching the 400m semifinals. He&nbsp;went on to finish third in the Wanda Diamond League 400m final in Zurich last September.
"Words cannot adequately express our sadness at the devastating and untimely loss of three-time Olympian and Olympic and World Championships bronze medallist Deon Lendore, who has been an inspiration and motivation to us all both on and off the track," read a tribute from the Trinidad and Tobago Olympic Committee.
"Deon has flown the Trinidad and Tobago flag with pride, honour, patriotism and an indomitable will throughout his career while helping and inspiring many. We express our deepest and heartfelt condolences to his family, friends, teammates, coaches, Abilene Club, Community of Arima and all who he would have touched.
"It is a sad day for the Trinidad and Tobago Olympic and Commonwealth Sport Movement."
World Athletics

World Athletics is deeply saddened to hear that Trinidad and Tobago’s Olympic and world 4x400m medallist Deon Lendore has died at the age of 29.

Olympic and world medallist Lendore dies

Kendell Williams smashed the world indoor junior record* in the pentathlon to provide the highlight the NCAA Indoor Track &amp; Field Championships in Albuquerque, New Mexico on Saturday (15). The 18-year-old from the University of Georgia tallied 4635 points to add 100 points to the previous mark that Sweden’s Carolina Klüft set at the 2002 European Indoor Championships.Williams opened the competition with an 8.21 clocking in the 60m hurdles, the first of five personal bests she would set in the competition. She followed that up with a 1.88m clearance in the high jump, another career best and higher than the winning mark in the individual event. Next, she reached a personal best 12.05m in the shot put and leapt 6.32m in the long jump to set another PB and equal her best ever outdoor jump. She then closed the competition with a 2:17.31 run in the 800m, yet another outright personal best.In a strong competition, 2013 winner Erica Bougard finished second with 4586 points.The standout performance on the track came courtesy of Phyllis Francis, who produced a world-leading, albeit altitude-assisted, 50.46 in the 400m. The sizzling dash by the 21-year-old University of Oregon student was the fastest in the world for seven years, and chipped 0.08 from the previous US indoor record of 50.54 set by world indoor champion Francena McCorory in 2010.Francis won by more than a second from world junior champion Ashley Spencer, from the University of Texas, who clocked 51.71. The two later played key roles in the 4x400m relay, which brought the two-day meeting to a dramatic conclusion.Waging a thrilling dual on the final leg, Francis gradually made up a .32 deficit and overtook Spencer in the waning stages to bring Oregon home in 3:27.40, an NCAA record, the third-fastest in the world this season and a mere 0.02 ahead of Texas. Francis’s final leg was clocked at 50.64, Spencer’s 50.99. The victory lifted Oregon to the top of the team standings with 44 points – just half a point ahead of Texas – to clinch the Lady Ducks their fifth straight team title at these championships.Lawson sails to 8.39m world leadThe 1507m altitude at the Albuquerque Convention Center was kind to the sprinters and jumpers throughout the weekend.&nbsp; The most notable performance on Friday’s programme came in the men’s long jump with Jarrion Lawson’s breakthrough 8.39m leap, another 2014 indoor world lead.The second-year student from the University of Arkansas, who won’t turn 20 until 6 May, fouled three of his six jumps, but also managed an 8.01m effort in round five before his big leap in the sixth.Lawson, the 2012 world junior bronze medallist in the event, has an outdoor best of just 7.93m from last season but this weekend added plenty of evidence to support the claim illustrated in his twitter handle: @I_Am_TheFuture.Corey Crawford, of Rutgers, also cleared eight metres to finish second with 8.01m.Lawson’s performance overshadowed a solid performance by Kaitlin Petrillose on the same day in the women’s pole vault. She won the competition with a 4.60m leap which added five centimetres to the previous NCAA indoor mark set by Slovenia’s Tina Sutej two years ago.Entering the meet with a 4.45m best set at this same venue in early February, the 21-year-old Petrillose needed three tries to equal that, but then topped 4.50m and 4.55m with her first attempts and cleared the winning height with her second. She then bowed out with three no-pressure attempts at 4.71m.
The men’s competition was a quality one, with Shawn Barber of the University of Akron improving his own Canadian indoor record to 5.75m. Barber, who turns 20 on 27 May, was the 2012 world junior bronze medallist and entered the weekend with a 5.66m indoor personal best from early February.Sam Kendricks, the World University Games and NCAA champion outdoors in 2013, topped out at 5.70m to finish second.Another world lead came in the men’s 200m on Friday night where Alabama’s Diondre Batson edged Dedric Dukes, of the University of Florida, by just 0.02 in 20.32. Batson returned to the track on Saturday in the 60m where he finished a distant third in 6.58 behind winner Dentarius Locke, of Florida State, who clocked 6.52.As expected, world leader Deon Lendore of Trinidad &amp; Tobago and Texas A&amp;M University won the 400m in 45.21. Vernon Norwood and Arman Hall were second and third respectively in 45.46 and 45.52.Dezerea Bryant, of the University of Kentucky, won the 200m on Friday night in 22.69 but her double victory bid was dashed by Alabama’s Remona Burchell in Saturday’s 60m, with the latter claiming a 0.01 victory in 7.11.Distance doubles for Cheserek and D’AgostinoA pair of double victories highlighted action in the distance events. Kenya’s Edward Cheserek, just 20, added the 3000m and 5000m indoor track titles to his cross country accolade from the autumn to lead Oregon to the men’s team title. Cheserek wasn’t too tested in either race, winning Friday’s 5000m in 13:46.67 by more than six seconds over his compatriot Lawi Lalang and Saturday’s 3000m in 8:11.59, more than a second-and-a-half clear of of Oklahoma State’s Kurubel Erassa.Lalang, of University of Arizona, who lowered the NCAA indoor record in the mile to 3:52.88 one month ago, was defeated over this distance as well on Saturday, losing to another Kenyan, Anthony Rotich, the Texas-El Paso student winning in 4:02.54 to 4:02.81. Abbey D’Agostino, of Dartmouth, added NCAA track titles number four and five to her collection, first with a 16:20.39 victory in Friday’s 5000m and then a 9:14.47 win in the 3000m on Saturday. She took both races handily; in the former she was more than two seconds clear of Aisling Cuffe (16:22.48) and the latter by more than a second-and-a-half ahead of Dominique Scott (9:16.05).Texas' Ryan Crouser, the 2009 world youth champion, dominated the shot put with a 21.21m winning effort. Florida State’s James Harris won the high jump at 2.32m and then just 90 minutes later clocked 45.90 in the 400m heats. He qualified for the final of that event, but tripped and was later disqualified.British long jumper Lorraine Ugen, of Texas Christian University, added the indoor title to her outdoor crown last year with a personal best leap of 6.73m, while Duke’s Curtis Beach won his second heptathlon title, tallying 6190 points.
The closest race of the two days of competition? The women’s 60m hurdles, where just 0.016 seconds separated first place from fourth. Sharika Nelvis, of Arizona State, won from Baylor’s Tiffani McReynolds. Both were credited with 7.93 personal best performances.In the heats of the 60m hurdles, Sasha Wallace broke her own North American indoor junior record with 8.08, just 0.02 away from the world junior indoor record. She looked set to break that mark in the final, but fell after clipping the fourth barrier. Bob Ramsak for the IAAF*pending the usual ratification procedures

Kendell Williams smashed the world indoor junior record* in the pentathlon to provide the highlight the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships in Albuquerque, New Mexico on Saturday (15). 

World junior pentathlon record for Kendell Williams at NCAA Indoor Champs

The first ISTAF Indoor meeting in Berlin’s 02 World Arena saw Australian hurdler Sally Pearson in scorching form on Saturday night (1).The 2011 World Athlete of the Year and London 2012 Olympic Games 100m hurdles champion had her first indoor outing since winning the 2012 IAAF World Indoor Championships 60m hurdles crown almost two years ago but proved that she will be a difficult person to dethrone next week in Sopot, Poland, when she sped to a world-leading 7.79 in her heat followed by 7.80m in the final.Her own Area record of 7.73, set when winning in Istanbul in 2012, and Lolo Jones’ championship record of 7.72, recorded in 2010, could be under threat next weekend.A distant second in Berlin was Germany’s in-form Nadine Hildebrand with 7.98, who just edged out Yvette Lewis, the latter finishing third and equalling her own Panamanian record of 7.99. More than 10,000 spectators crowded into the arena and were treated to great poerformances from local stars and likely Sopot medal contenders Malte Mohr and David Storl.Mohr, a bronze medallist at the 2010 World Indoor Championships and fourth at the last edition in Istanbul, went over an indoor personal best of 5.90m on his third attempt before having three unsuccessful tries at a German indoor record of 6.01m.Two-time world outdoor champion Storl extended his winter winning streak to seven competitions when he sent his implement out to 21.20m with his opening effort. He then had five fouls in a bid to improve on that mark. Bulgaria’s Georgi Ivanov finished second with 20.40m.The venue was big enough to allow a rare indoor discus competition and Germany’s Martin Wierig upset the odds by throwing 64.82m to win.Poland’s Piotr Malachowski was second with 63.73m while Germany’s current world and Olympic champion Robert Harting was only able to manage fourth place with 62.20m.Germany's 2010 European 100m champion Verena Sailer equalled her 60m best when winning in 7.12 while Kim Collins of St Kitts and Nevis took the men's sprint in 6.52.Dayron Robles claimed the men's 60m hurdles in 7.53.Lendore now leads the 400m lists with 45.03 On the other side of the Atlantic on Saturday night, Deon Lendore improved his own Trinidad and Tobago 400m national record by 0.12 to 45.03 at College Station. It was a 2014 world-leading performance over two laps of the track and moved him up to number six on the world indoor all-time list.Behind Lendore, the USA’s 2011 world youth champion Arman Hall clocked a best of 45.28 and, in a separate race, USA’s Vernon Norwood ran 45.39. Lendore then helped the mixed nationality Texas A&amp;M university team to win the 4x400m in a world-leading 3:03.20, which equals the fifth fastest performance ever indoors. Second was an all-USA Florida University team in 3:03.50. USA’s Kamaria Brown improved again her world lead in the 200m to 22.50 and won the 400m in a personal best of 50.94, the second-fastest time of the year. In the 200m, behind Brown, Kyra Jefferson finished second in 22.87 but Dezerea Bryant ran in another final and was even faster with 22.75, both times being personal bests. Bryant also won the 60m in 7.16, which equalled her best. In the women’s 60m hurdles, Kendra Harrison clocked 7.94. Phil Minshull for the IAAF

The first ISTAF Indoor meeting in Berlin’s 02 World Arena saw Australian hurdler Sally Pearson in scorching form on Saturday night (1).

Sally Pearson back indoors and runs world-leading 7.79 in Berlin

In his final competition before the defence of his European indoor title, Olympic champion Renaud Lavillenie gave himself the perfect confidence-booster at the National Indoor Meeting in Metz on Sunday (24).Not only did he extend his 2013 winning streak to eight competitions, but his winning clearance of 5.94m was the fifth time this year he has set a world-leading mark.He cleared each bar at the first time of asking, up to and including his winning height. He came close to clearing 6.00m to round off the competition, but he was more than satisfied with his victory.It was a good day all round for the Lavillenie family as his younger brother, Valentin, smashed his PB to finish third with 5.70m, the same height as Konstadinos Filippidis in second place.Other highlights in Metz included a 6.53 victory in the 60m by Kim Collins, Bethwel Birgen won the 1500m in 3:36.66, and Paolo Dal Molin came within 0.02 of the Italian record in the 60m Hurdles, winning in 7.59.Big shots at Balkan ChampsThe men’s Shot proved to be the best event at the Balkan Indoor Championships in Istanbul on Saturday (23). Serbia’s Asmir Kolasinac came close to breaking his own national indoor record on each of his three valid attempts – 20.54m (twice) and 20.48m.All three throws were easily enough to win, but in a quality competition six men broke 19 metres. Hamza Alic of Bosnia-Herzegovina was second with 19.87, just nine centimetres ahead of Bulgaria’s Georgi Ivanov.Among the few victories by hosts Turkey, the best performances came from Ilham Tanui Ozbilen in the 1500m (3:37.49) and Nevin Yanit in the 60m Hurdles with a 7.98 national record. A national record was also set by Serbia’s Ivana Spanovic in the Long Jump, which she won with 6.73m.Lendore, Ernest, Dendy and Duncan post world leadsIt was a busy weekend of conference championships for US collegiate athletes, and no less than four world-leading marks were set across the various meetings.The South Eastern Conference Championships, held this weekend in Fayetteville (22-24), played host to some speedy two-lap races. Deon Lendore, who anchored Trinidad &amp; Tobago to Olympic 4x400m bronze last summer, smashed the 45.91 PB he set last month to set a national record and world-leading time of 45.15 in the heats of the 400m.The 20-year-old backed it up in the final with a 45.23 clocking, with Hugh Graham setting an outright PB of 45.67 in second place.Two-time NCAA champion Kimberlyn Duncan scorched to the fastest indoor 200m performance in the world for five years, winning with 22.54 to go to sixth on the US indoor all-time list. Ashton Purvis was second in 22.70.Aaron Ernest, World junior silver medallist in the 100m and 200m last year, was also in PB form as he twice bettered the world-leading mark in the 200m – first with 20.59 in the heats, followed by 20.53 in the final.Perhaps the most surprising performance of the meeting came from Marquis Dendy. The 20-year-old had only once before broken eight metres in the Long Jump – at this same meeting last year, in fact – but he flew way out past that mark with a world-leading 8.25m; the best indoor performance by an American long jumper for nine years.Other good performances from Fayetteville included a 7.54 victory from Eddie Lovett in the 60m Hurdles, Regina George’s 51.40 win in the 400m, and a national record in the Pentathlon by Makeba Alcide of St Lucia with her score of 4569.At the Big 10 Championships in Geneva, Ohio, Japheth Cato broke 6000 points in the Heptathlon for the second time this year. His winning score of 6090 was boosted by PBs in the 60m Hurdles (7.83) and 1000m (2:45.42).Just as notable was the third-place finish of Olympic High Jump bronze medallist Derek Drouin. He scored a very respectable 5817, which included a 2.30m leap in the High Jump – the highest ever jump within a combined events competition, indoors or out. His score puts him at fourth on the Canadian all-time list.At the same meeting, Casimir Loxsom produced the fastest time ever by an American for the indoor 600m with 1:15.41, although it was set on an oversized track.World leader Brianna Rollins posted the second-fastest time of her career in the 60m Hurdles at the ACC Championships in Blacksburg, Virginia. Her winning time of 7.90 was just 0.12 shy of the PB she set last month.Jon Mulkeen for the IAAF

World leads by Lavillenie in Metz and Lendore, Duncan and Dendy in Fayetteville