Three Jamaicans, Alana Reid, Deandre Daley, and Gary Card, have advanced to their respective 100m finals at the World U20 Athletics Championships in Lima 2024.
In the women’s 100m semi-finals, Alana Reid led the charge for Jamaica, winning semi-final 2 in 11.44 seconds to secure her spot in the final.
Reid, who ran 11.46 in the heats, described her semi-final run as an okay performance, noting that she did enough to qualify for the final. “I just need to focus and come back again tomorrow. The cold weather affects me just a little bit, but I have to compete anyway. I had to do my best, so I just came in here and executed as much as I needed to for tomorrow’s final.”
Reid Talks Up Jamaica’s Chances in 100m Finals at World U20 Championships
She also spoke about the team’s chances: “We are just coming out to show our best and to stay focused as a team. Anything that we can lead and achieve. We are committed as a team to never give up and believe that we can achieve anything.”
Kishawna Niles Secures Spot in 100m Final at Lima 2024
Joining her in the final is Kishawna Niles of Barbados, who topped semi-final 1 in 11.39 seconds. Nia Wedderburn-Goodison of Great Britain also clocked 11.39 seconds in the same semi-final.
Niles commented after the race, saying, “Honestly, I feel really happy about the time I made because my preliminary wasn’t the best, so I wanted to give it a try here to make it to the final. Since the last time I didn’t make it, it’s really exciting. I will go and do my best.”
Hodge Keeps Lima 2024 Medal Hopes Alive, Qualifies for 100m Final
Adaejah Hodge of the British Virgin Islands also advanced to the final with a time of 11.59 seconds. Jamaica’s other entrant, Thieanna Lee Terrolonge, did not advance, clocking 12.03 seconds in the heats.
“Today was a survive and advance,” said Hodge. “It’s a little chilly, but I’m just happy that I made it to tomorrow’s final. Tomorrow’s plan is just to go calm and collected into the race and focus on what I need to focus on. Definitely, no one wants to sprint in the cold, so it’s a little hard to just go ahead and give my 100%. I think I’m doing a good job so far. My expectation is to go there and have fun as I always do.”
Other qualifiers for the final include South Africa’s Viwe Jingqi with 11.49 seconds, Germany’s Chelsea Kadiri with 11.52 seconds, Nigeria’s Justina Tiana Eyakpobeyan with 11.56 seconds, and Australia’s Aleksandra Stoilova with 11.58 seconds.
On the men’s side, Deandre Daley and Gary Card kept Jamaica’s medal hopes alive. Daley clocked 10.34 seconds, while Card posted a time of 10.39 seconds, both securing their places in the final. They will be joined by Puripol Boonson of Thailand and Bradley Nkoana of South Africa, who both clocked 10.30 seconds. Other qualifiers include South Africa’s Bayanda Walaza with 10.33 seconds, Great Britain’s Teddy Wilson with 10.35 seconds, China’s Jinxian He with 10.36 seconds, and Japan’s Naoki Nishioka, who clocked 10.43 seconds.
“It was a pretty nice race, and the aim was just to get to the next round, and that’s what I did,” Daley said. “In the final, first, I want to finish healthy, and then, I want to get on the podium. I’m definitely enjoying being here in Lima with my teammates.”
In the Mixed 4x400m final, Jamaica’s U20 team delivered a solid performance, finishing fourth with a season-best time of 3:22.74. The team, comprised of Demarco Bennett, Shanniqua Williams, Marcinho Rose, and Alliah Baker, put up a strong fight but was outpaced by the Australian team, who set an Australian U20 record of 3:19.27 to take the gold. Poland and China claimed the silver and bronze medals, respectively.
In the men’s shot put, Shaiquan Dunn finished ninth with a mark of 18.92m. Jarno Van Daalen of the Netherlands won the event with a personal best mark of 20.76m.
Chavez Penn squeezed into the final of the men’s triple jump, qualifying in the 12th and final spot with a jump of 15.32m. Ethan Oliver of New Zealand had the best opening round mark of 16.37m.
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