FOLLOWING good performances so far at the World Youth Championships in Lille, France the country's young athletes will be hoping for more glory on Sunday's final day of competition as they seek to increase their medal tally of five, which includes two gold and three bronze. Jamaica is sitting in sixth position in the medal tally going into the final day but they could improve on this as their chances to medal on the last day of competition look good.

Despite not picking up any medals on Saturday’s penultimate day of competition, the country's athletes gave commanding performances and are in pole positions to reap more medals on Sunday.  In the only final involving Jamaican athletes, Manchester High’s Omar McLeod who  has had a busy schedule at the Championships, failed to medal in the Boy's 400 metres hurdles final and only managed eighth position in 52.82 seconds. McLeod was actually competing in his second final of the Championships, following his fourth place finish the previous day in the Boy's 110 metres hurdles final. McLeod also ran the 400 metres leg on the medley relay team before competing in his 400 metres hurdles final.

Holmwood Technical’s Gleneive Grange, who competed in the Heptathlon, did not report for the final event – 800 metres.

In the field events on Saturday, Chanice Porter, following her bronze medal in the girl's long jump, booked her second final of the Championships in finishing fourth in her Group in the preliminary round with 5.92 metres. The girl’s long jump final is set for 8:20 a.m. Jamaican time. 

The morning session also saw the running of the medley relays where both male and female teams advanced to the finals.  However, it was the female team which was the more impressive in qualifying, as the quartet of Christania Williams (100m), Shericka Jackson (200m), Olivia James (300m) and ChrisAnn Gordon running the final leg (400m), was devastating, clocking a world leading time of 2:05.59 to win their heat ahead of Nigeria (2:08.44). Jamaica is the fastest qualifier going into the final and a repeat performance of the heat could give the country its first success in the event at these Championships.  The final is scheduled in for 10:05 a.m. Jamaican time and Jamaica will run out of lane six.  It was the contrasting result for the Boy's as the quartet of Tyler Mason, Odail Todd, Lennox Williams and Omar McLeod will have to recharge their batteries if they hope to be among the medals in the final.  The team finished second in their heat in 1:53.66 behind Caribbean neigbours, Trinidad and Tobago, who won in 1:53.32.  Jamaica has the seventh fastest time going into the final and will run out of lane one.  The final is scheduled for twenty minutes after the girl's at 10:25 a.m.

Following the semi finals of both boy's and  girl's 200 metres, the country will be well represented in the finals and could walked away with top prizes as World Youth leader Shericka Jackson and 100 metres champion Odail Todd looked impressive in advancing.  Jackson, the Vere Technical athlete who was a fourth place finisher in the event at the World Youth Olympic Games last year, was easy in clocking 23.65 seconds in winning the first heat to be the third fastest qualifier going into the final. She will have to contend with Desireen Henry (23.38) of Great Britain and Canadian Christian Brennan  (23.48) who are the top two qualifiers, winning their semi-final heats. Jamaica’s other competitor, Kadeesha Dallas of Holmwood Technical, failed to advance after a seventh place finish in her heat where she clocked 24.72 seconds. The final is slated for 8:30 a.m. Jamaican time and Jackson will be running out of lane four.

After a memorable moment in the 100 metres where he gave the country its second gold medal of the Championships, Todd, out of Green Island High, will be hoping to create history by becoming the first Jamaican to capture the sprint double at these Championships. Todd looked in immaculate form in winning his heat of the boy's 200 metres semi-final in 21.02 seconds to be the fastest qualifier. In the final, at 9:10 a.m. Jamaican time, Todd will run out of lane four.   Jamaica’s other competitor in the event, Odean Skeen who pulled out of the Boy's 100 metres event earlier in the Championships after re-aggravating his  hamstring injury, was disqualified in his semi-final for false starting.

Contributed by Raymond Graham

Photos courtesy of The Gleaner