Shot-putter O’Dayne Richards and middle distance runner Natoya Goule both set new Jamaican national indoor records in recent outings at meets in Europe and the USA.

Richards, the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) World Championships bronze medallist and Glasgow Commonwealth Games champion, recorded a new indoor best and national record 20.68m, as he finished a close second at the Nehvizdy meeting in Prague, Czech Republic, on Friday.

He was beaten by two centimetres by Bosnian Mesud Pezer, who won with 20.70m.

Richards’ distance beat his previous best of 19.93m set last year at a meet in Birmingham, England, and was farther than the 20.62m done by Dorian Scott.

Another Jamaican, Cannigia Raynor, had thrown 20.92m in Warrenburg, Missouri, USA, in January 2016 but while the mark has been recognised by sport’s ruling body the IAAF, it has not been ratified by the national governing body, the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association.

Two weeks ago Goule ran a national best two minutes 37.55 seconds for the rarely run 1,000m at a meet in New York, lowering the 2:38.62 minutes set in 2010 in Boston by Kenia Sinclair.

Goule, who won a bronze medal at the Commonwealth Games in Australia last year, is the holder of the outdoors 800m record.

— Paul Reid