More success for juniors in Spain
BARCELONA, Spain – With the exception of medical scares concerning two of Jamaica’s athletes, this morning’s third session of the 14th IAAF World Junior Championships was another successful one with one final and four semi-final places been confirmed.
While 800m runner Semoya Campbell and 400m hurdler Javarn Gallimore both had to seek medical attention for what were believed to be non-track related illnesses, the Jamaican athletes continued to perform at a high level following on yesterday’s opening day when nine of 11 athletes advanced past the first round.
Men’s team captain Ashinia Miller qualified for this afternoon’s shot put finals after throwing 19.71m on his final attempt in the morning’s opening session and says he is confident going into the final later today.
Olivia James ran a season best 52.86 seconds for a automatic spot in Thursday’s semi-final of the 400m while Chrisann Gordon cruised to an easy looking 52.99 seconds to win her heat in commanding fashion before telling reporters she was in good condition and just taking it one step at a time as the meet progressed.
Both Gallimore and Shavarn Barnes placed second in their first round heats of the 400m hurdles and also automatically advanced to the semi-finals to be run tomorrow morning.
Gallimore, who won at Champs, was clocked in 51.40 seconds while Barnes ran 51.52 seconds.
The championships continue this afternoon with the semi-finals of the men’s 100m which will see Odean Skeen and Jazeel Murphy; the women’s 100m semis with Shawnette Lewin and Monique Spencer; the men’s 110m hurdles with Stephan Fennell and Yannick Hart; the first round of the men’s high jump with Chistoffe Bryan and the men’s 400m semis with Javon Francis.