FOLLOWING  Fredrick Dacres Gold medal on Wednesday's opening day of competition at the 7th IAAF World Youth Championships in Lille, France it was another gold on Thursday's second day  for Jamaica. Green Island High's student Odail Todd had his brightest  glory in his young career when in a close finish in the Boy's 100 metres  final he got the better of  pre race favourite  Kazuma Oseto, winning in 10.51 seconds as the Japanese was one hundredth of a second behind in second place in 10.52 seconds. France’s Michel Meba-Zeze took the bronze in 10.57 seconds.  Todd by virtue of his achievement, became the second Jamaican to win Gold in the event, following in the footsteps of Dexter Lee who won Gold in 2007.

It was two medals for the country's athletes on the second day of competition as Edwin Allen’s Christania Williams pocketed bronze in the Girl's 100 metres in finishing third in 11.63 seconds. Williams actually led for majority of the way and looked like pulling off a victory, but lost her form in the final 10 metres.  The United States made it 1-2 in the event as Jennifer Madu raced to a personal best of 11.57 seconds to take the gold with her team-mate Myasia Jacobs finishing second for silver in 11.61 seconds.

By virtue of picking up two more medals on Thursday Jamaica, with three medals, is in second place overall behind the United States. The United States have seven medals which include 2 gold 3 silver and 2 bronze.

There were no medals for the other Jamaicans who competed in finals on Thursday with St. Jago High’s Chrisdale McCarthy having her best performance. In the Girl's 100 metres hurdles final, McCarthy recorded a personal best of 13.55 seconds but had to settle for fifth while her teammate Megan Simmonds was sixth in the event in 13.78 seconds. The United States’ Trinity Wilson raced to a world leading time of 13.11 second to capture the Gold as Noemi Zbaren of Switzerland (13.17) took silver with Wilson’s teammate Kendell Williams copping bronze in 13.8 seconds.

After posting his personal best in the preliminary round of the Boy's long jump, Kingston College’s Clive Pullen failed to match that effort in the finals as he finished ninth with a leap of 7.19 metres. Oing Lin of China took the event with a big jump of 7.83 metres.

There was also semi-final action in the Girl's 400 metres and Boy's 400 metres hurdles where three Jamaicans were involved - all advancing to the finals. ChrisAnn Gordon was the fastest qualifier for  Friday's 400 metres final as she won Semi-Final 1 in 52.7 seconds with teammate Olivia James finishing third in Semi Final 3 in 53.41 seconds. Here the Bahamas’ Saunae Miller, the World Junior champion in the event, also booked her ticket to the final as she won her heat in 52.92 seconds to be the second fastest qualifier. In Friday's final which will run off at 12:05 p.m. Jamaican time, Gordon will run out of lane three while Miller will be in lane six and James running out of lane seven.

Omar McLeod also advanced  to a final after finishing fourth in the Boy's 400 metres hurdles where he clocked 51.91 seconds for a fourth place finish – moving on on as one of the best losers.

Manchester High’s Chanice Porter will also be hoping to add to Jamaica's medal tally on Friday when she competes in the Girl's high jump final which is scheduled for 9:05 a.m. Jamaican time.

Four Jamaicans will be hoping to move forward to the finals of their events when they take the track in semi-final action. At 10:00 a.m.  local time, Jamaica College’s Tyler Mason and McLeod will compete in the Boy's 110 meters hurdles.  Mason will run out of lane six in Semi-Final One while McLeod, who will be hoping to reach his second final of the Championships, will run out of Lane Five in Semi-Final Three.  The final is slated for later in the evening.

The ever improving Simoya Campbell and Marleena Eubanks will be in action in the Girls 800 metres Semi-Final which will run off at 11:03 a.m. Jamaican time. Campbell will be in Semifinal Two and will run out of lane six while Ebanks will come out of lane eight in Semi-Final Three.

Five other Jamaicans will be in action in the morning session with Holmwood Technical’s, Gleneive Grange being the first to take the track as she will compete in the Girl's Heptathlon 100 metres hurdles which will be followed by the Shot Put and 200 metres later in the day.

Kadisha Dallas and Shericka Jackson will compete in first round action in the Girl's 200 metres while 100 metres Boy's champion, Odail Todd will be hoping for the double when he takes the track in the Boy's 200 metres. He will be joined in the 200 metres by Odean Skeen.

Contributed by Raymond Graham

Photos courtesy of The Gleaner