All set Jamaica poised to begin medal hunt at WYC

MONTEGO BAY, St James — Jamaica are poised to start its medal hunt at the Eighth IAAF World Youth Championships after a brilliant start on yesterday’s first day in Donetsk, Ukraine.

Thirteen of the 16 athletes who participated on the opening day advanced to the next round and with four finals set for the afternoon session, medals will be on offer.Leading the charge yesterday were the male sprinters Michael O’Hara and Waseem Williams, and the female sprint hurdlers Yanique Thompson and Rushelle Burton, as well as male 400m hurdlers Marvin Williams and Okeen Williams, all of whom dominated their events.All four 400m runners, as well as female 400m hurdler Andrenetta Knight, and both female 100m runners advanced.The finals of the female 100m hurdles and both 100m will be run on today’s second day.Meanwhile, men’s shotputter Demar Gayle, female discus thrower Paul-Ann Gayle and female triple jumper Tamara Moncrieffe all failed to advance past the first rounds of their respective events.Today five more Jamaicans, led by high jumper Christoffe Bryan, will bow into action.Bryan, with a season-best 2.19m is the top-ranked jumper in the championships, and will be seeking Jamaica’s first gold in this event. He will contest Group B of the qualification and the 2.09m automatic qualifying mark should be easy to achieve.Jaheel Hyde and Jordon Chin will contest the first rounds of the men’s 110m hurdles with Rochelle Frazer and Isheka Binns taking part in the first round of the women’s shot put. The final is set for the afternoon session.Yesterday O’Hara, who is one of the gold medal favourites in the championships and who is seeking Jamaica’s first ever sprint double at the WYC, and Williams both won their first round heats in 10.66 seconds, same time as Barbadian Mario Burke.American Kenzo Cotton ran a personal best 10.52 seconds to lead the first round followed by China’s Youxe Mo’s 10.64 seconds.O’Hara, whose personal best is 10.39 seconds, will face Mo in his semi-final heat, while Williams runs in the third semi-final.National junior champion Joneille Smith looked easy in her qualifying heat, second in 12.13 seconds to Italian Annalia Spadotto Scott (12.12 seconds), while Saqukine Cameron, who was third in her heat in 11.90 seconds, advanced as one of the fastest losers.Yanique Thompson, who went into the championships with the top time in the world and had three of the four best times this season, ran 13.52 seconds, the second best of the day to win her heat in the women’s 100m hurdles to take her place in today’s semi-finals.Burton, who is also highly ranked, won her first round heat in 13.78 seconds for the fourth best time of the day.Two Americans ran personal best times to be first and third, respectively; Dior Hall’s 13.39 seconds was the best from the first round, while Mikia Brisco ran 13.73 seconds.The surprise of the day came in the boys’ 400m hurdles where the St Elizabeth Technical pair of Marvin Williams and Okeen Williams cruised their first round to easy wins.Marvin Williams ran a personal best 51.33 seconds, best on the day and third best in the world so far this season, to beat Japan’s Takumu Furuya, who ran a personal best 52.59 seconds.Okeen Williams, the Central American and Caribbean junior Under-18 record holder at 51.68 seconds, won his heat in a season’s best 52.11 seconds, well ahead of Tunisia’s Mohamed Fares Jlassi-53.38 seconds.Americans Marlon Humphries and Kenneth Selmon, the number one and two ranked runners in the event this year, are also through to today’s semifinals.Okeen, who won the event at the National Championships, and Humphrey will clash in the third of three semis, with the top two from each booking their place in Saturday’s final.Knight eased down noticeably in her first round heat in the women’s event and was third in 1 minute 01.24 seconds, but still managed to get an automatic qualifying spot in the semifinals.All four quarter milers won their first round heat easily and will contest the semifinals today.Martin Manley had the fifth best time of the round when he ran 47.08 seconds, while joint world leader Devaughn Baker ran 47.58 seconds to win his heat.Tiffany James, the CARIFTA Games Under-17 champion had the fourth best time of 54.66 seconds to win her heat, while Yanique McNeil was just behind her in fifth place with 54.69 seconds.Moncrieffe just missed a spot in the triple jump final after placing 13th overall, jumping 12.48m and beaten out by Russia’s Kristina Malaya with 12.57m.Paul-Ann Gayle’s 42.63m in the women’s discus throw was good enough for seventh in her group and 14th overall, just missing the top 12.Her Edwin Allen schoolmate Demar Gayle threw a personal best 18.34m, but was ninth in his shot put group and 18th overall.All set Jamaica poised to begin medal hunt at WYC

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All set Jamaica poised to begin medal hunt at WYC