Jamaica could fare no better than fifth place in the first track final of the 18th World Athletics Championships inside Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon on Friday night.
Elsewhere on the opening day of the July 15 – 24 track and field showpiece, most Jamaicans advanced from the preliminary round, with the most notable failure being 2019 World Championships men’s long jump gold medallist Tajay Gayle, who surprisingly lined up despite being obviously injured.
On the track in the mixed 4x400m relay final, the Jamaica quartet of Demish Gaye, Tiffany James, Karayme Bartley and Stacey Ann Williams ran 3:12.71 minutes behind winners, Caribbean neighbours Dominican Republic, who won in a world-leading 3:09.82 minutes. The Netherlands finished strongly for second in 3:09.90, followed by the USA in 3:10.16, followed by Poland in 3:12.31 minutes, with Poland finishing in fourth place in 3:12.71 minutes.
Read More: Fun Facts About Jamaican Female Athletes at the World Championships
Meanwhile, all three men in the 100m advanced from their preliminary heats to Saturday’s semi-finals.
On a superfast running track, Ackeem Blake finished second in his heat in 10.15 seconds behind American Marvin Bracy in 10.05 seconds.
Oblique Seville then cruised home to win heat four in 9.93 seconds ahead of the Olympic Games gold medallist, wille Yohan Blake who settled for second place in heat five in 10.04 behind Botswana’s Under-20 star who clocked a new World Youth Championships in 9.94 seconds.
American sprinter Fred Kerley had won heat two in a staggering 9.79 seconds.
Elsewhere, Danniell Thomas-Dodd threw 19.09m in Group B of the women’s shot put to finish fourth and advance to Saturday’s final, but her compatriot LLoydricia Cameron could only muster 17.65m for ninth place in Group A. She failed to qualify for the final.
In the men’s long jump Wayne Pinnock advanced to Saturday’s final with a 7.98m while the defending champion attempted to compete much to the surprise of many, but he failed to make a measurement.
Adelle Tracey ran 4:05.14 minutes to claim a sixth place and a spot in the final slated for Saturday.
The men’s 100m semi-finals and final will be contested Saturday, while the women sprinters who swept the podium places at the Tokyo Olympic Games, bow into action on Saturday, while a fourth Jamaica entrant Kemba Nelson will also face the starter.
