CALI, Colombia – Jamaicans Brianna Lyston, Brandon Pottinger and Jaydon Hibbert won gold medals on Friday’s (5 Aug) penultimate day of Colombia’s Cali22 World Athletics U20 Championships.
Jaydon Hibbert, silver medallist in Nairobi and entered as the favourite, hop-skip-jump out to 17.27 metres on his first attempt. The mark is a new championship record.
The mark is an improvement on his personal best by 61cm and puts him second on the world U18 all-time list. It also makes him the eighth-best U20 athlete in the event’s history. Only one other Jamaican – Olympic and world long jump silver medallist James Beckford – has ever gone farther with his 17.92m national record set in 1995.
“Right now, I can’t even soak it up. I didn’t see this coming. I’m speechless,” said Hibbert. “This was a big surprise because I actually came to the competition with a knee pain, and I didn’t even have a proper run-up today. So, wow.”
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Brianna Lyston, disqualified in Nairobi, returned more determined to stamp her class in her last meet at this level. She brazed off the curve and stretched her lead down the homestretch to cross the line in 22.65.
“I told myself last year that due to me being disqualified, I would come back, I would train hard, and I would accomplish what I can do.”
Lyston’s teammate and training partner Alana Reid took 3rd in a personal best 22.95.
“I am very elated with myself. I knew I could do it, but I had times when I doubted myself and looked at things in the wrong way.
“I came out here and got a personal best, and I couldn’t be happier,” Reid added.
Jamaica’s Brandon Pottinger wins the men’s high jump in Cali
Brandon Pottinger won Jamaica’s first ever high jump gold at a global event. He cleared 2.14 metres for the victory.
Pottinger entered the competition at 2.05m, but it took him two attempts to cleat that height. He soared clear at 2.10m on the first time of asking, after which rain delayed the competition for over an hour.
The next height proved a challenge for all but Pottinger, and in the end, only the Jamaican went over 2.14m on his second attempt. He tried once at 2.20m before calling it a day.
Meanwhile, Roshawn Clarke took bronze in the men’s 400m hurdles, crossing the line in 49.62.
Team Jamaica, at the end of five days, is just behind the USA on the medal table.
