DACRES... won Jamaica’s firstgold medal in a throwingevent at a global meet
Historic gold! – Ja’s Dacres wins discus throw at WYC
FEDRICK Dacres got Jamaica’s quest at the 7th IAAF World Youth Championships in Lille, France off to a brilliant start yesterday when he won the country’s first gold medal in a throwing event at a global athletics event.
Improving on the standard set by his Calabar High School teammate Traves Smikle, who won bronze two years ago in Brixen-Bressanone, Dacres dominated the event from the qualifying round to win with a personal best 67.05 metres, an improvement on the 66.42 world-leading mark he took into the championships.
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“I haven’t got words to describe my emotion,” Dacres was quoted as saying on the IAAF website yesterday. “I’m sure it’s a great experience for the future.”
The results left Jamaica tied for the lead with Ethiopia and China with one gold each in the medals standings after the first day.
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The last time Jamaica won a gold medal at the World Youth Championships was in 2007 in Ostrava, Czech Republic, when Dexter Lee and Ramone McKenzie won the 100 and 200m events, respectively.
Meanwhile, all but two of the 13 Jamaicans who took part on the opening day of the five day event advanced past the first round yesterday. Quarter miler Lennox Williams and high jumper Krista-Gay Taylor failed to get past the first hurdle.
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Dacres’ throw moved him up to sixth place on the all-time Youth list and an improvement on two places as he led from the start in the final which was held in the second session.
After needing just one throw of 61.57m in the morning session to qualify him for the final, Dacres had a superb final series and with the exception of a foul on his fifth attempt, all his efforts were over the 62-metre mark as he won on a canter.
American Ethan Cochran captured the silver medal with 61.37m and South Africa’s Gerhard de Beer the bonze with 60.63 — both personal bests.
Dacres threw 63.67 on his first attempt, in effect the winning throw, then followed up with 62.05, 63.37, 64.52, then after a foul, unleashed a ‘monster’ to put the icing on the cake.
Odail Todd, who will be chasing his own piece of history today, won his first-round heat of the men’s 100m in 10.70 seconds (-0.2m/s), just off his personal best of 10.69, and will contest the semi-finals today and hopefully, the final later on.
Todd is the only Jamaican male in the event after the late withdrawal of Odean Skeen on Tuesday, and if he wins the gold, it would see Jamaican men owning all major global 100m titles at the same time.
World leader Christania Williams, 11.66 seconds, and Diana Johnson, 11.99, also advanced to today semi-finals of the girls 100m. Williams won her first-round heat while Johnson was second.
Another world leader, 400m runner Chris-Ann Gordon, also eased into today’s semi-finals of the 400m, along with CARIFTA Games Under-20 gold medallist Olivia James.
Gordon won her heat in 53.52 seconds — the best on the day — while James, who also won her heat, clocked 54.78.
Sprint hurdlers Megan Simmonds and Chrisdale McCarthy, late additions to the team, were both second in their qualifying heats in 13.90 and 13.85 seconds, respectively.
Today, McCarthy will contest the first semi-final, while Simmonds, who was fourth at the Youth Olympics last year, is in the third heat.
The top two athletes in each of the three semi-finals and the two fastest losers advance to the finals set for later this evening.
Clive Pullen, a controversial selection, achieved a personal best effort of 7.29m to win Group A of the qualifying to advance to the long jump finals. He will seek to surpass Tarick Batchelor’s seventh place in Ostrava four years ago.
World-ranked Chanice Porter qualified for the high jump final after clearing 1.75m on her second attempt.
Taylor, who cleared 1.80m at Junior Trials, failed to clear 1.75m after clearing 1.72m on her second attempt.
In the boys 400m hurdles first round, Omar McLeod recorded a personal best 51.74 seconds for second in his heat to advance to today’s semis.
McLeod will also contest the first round of the 110m hurdles today, along with Tyler Mason. Williams finished sixth in his 400m heat, slowing down in the last 50 metres and missing the top three automatic qualifying spots.
In addition to Mason, Marleena Eubanks and CARIFTA Under-20 gold medallist Simoya Campbell will be making their debuts today when they contest the first-round heats of the girls 800m.
