CALABAR High School thrower, Fredrick Dacres gave Jamaica a perfect start on Wednesday’s opening day of the 7th IAAF World Youth Championships in Lille, France when he gave the country its first medal of the Championships.  Dacres golden throw of 67.05 metres in the Boy's Discus was good enough to take home the gold medal. Ethan Cochran of the United States with 61.37 metres and Gerhard de Beer of South Africa took home the silver and bronze medals with throw of 61.37 and 60.63 metres respectively.

It was a personal best, National junior record and World leading throw for the Julian Robinson coached Dacres who surpassed the feat of his Calabar High teammate, Traves Smikle, who two years ago gave the country its first Global medal in a throwing event when he captured the bronze in Italy at the 6th staging of the Championships. Dacres went to the Championships as the top ranked athlete in the event with his previous best and National Junior Record of 66.42 metres.  Dacres had early qualified for the final after using his opening throw of 61.57 metres to move on to the final.

Jamaica continued it’s great start on the opening day of action at the 7th World Youth Championships as they had a perfect morning session where sprint hurdlers Megan Simmonds and Chrisdale McCarthy were the first Jamaicans to taste action as they both finished second in their heats in the girls 100 metres hurdles advancing to Thursday's semi-finals.  Simmonds clocked 13.90 seconds in Heat 3 while in the following heat, McCarthy stopped the clock at 13.85 seconds.  Both athletes will be hoping to advance to the final of the event when they compete in the semi-finals which will get underway at 10:00 a.m Jamaican time.  McCarthy will run out of Lane 2 in semi-final one, while Simmonds will run out of lane six in semi-final three. The top two and two fastest losers will advance to the final.  

Following the girl's 100 metres hurdles it was action in the girl's 400 metres where Jamaica's ChrisAnn Gordon went into the Championships as the number one seed with her 51.69 seconds clocking done at Boy's and Girl's Championships. Competing in heat 3 of the event, the Holmwood Technical athlete sent out a strong message to her rivals very early as she won her heat in impressive style as the fastest qualifier for the semi-finals in 53.52 seconds. Two heats later her teammate Olivia James, the Carifta under 20  champion in the event, won her heat easily in 54.78 seconds to also move forward to the semi-finals.

With teammate Odean Skeen out of the boy's 100 metres after re-aggravating his injury during training, only one competitor has been entered in the boy's 100 metres for Jamaica. The National Junior 100m Champion champion, Odail Todd of Green Island High School, had little difficulty in advancing to the semi-final as he won his heat in 10.70 seconds. Todd will run out of Lane 3 in semi-final 3 at 10:54 a.m Jamaican time.  The top two  finishers and two fastest losers will advance to the final.

Two other Jamaicans also competed in the morning session in field events, both advancing to the finals. Chanice Porter, who is doubling at the Championships, cleared the bar at 1.75 metres to move into Friday's high jump final which will take place at 11:05 a.m. Jamaican time. In the other field event it was  a personal best for Kingston College’s Clive Pullen who topped his group in the qualification round of the boy's long jump with a personal best leap of 7.29 metres. He will compete in Thursday's final at 11:00 a.m Jamaican time.

Jamaica’s first disappointment of the Championships came in the afternoon session on the opening day as Manchester High’s Lennox Williams, the lone competitor for Jamaica in the Boy's 400 metres, failed to advance from his heat. Williams finished sixth in his heat in a time of 50.01 seconds.

Both Diana Johnson and Christania Williams moved on to the next round of the girl's 100 metres following first round action. Johnson, the Holmwood Technical student, finished second in her heat in 11.99 seconds while, Williams, out of Edwin Allen High, confirmed her good form coming to the Championships  as she won her heat easily in 11.66 seconds. She moves forward as the second fastest qualifier as Bulgaria’s Galina Nikolova won her heat in 11.65 seconds to be the fastest qualifier.  Semi-final action in the event will get underway on Thursday at 9:50 a.m. Jamaican time when both Johnson and Williams will be hoping to move forward to the final  later that day.  Williams will run out of lane four in semi-final 1 while Johnson will see action out of lane two in semi-final three where the top two and two fastest losers will advance.