Led by the experienced duo of Stephenie Ann McPherson and Kimberly Williams, Jamaica battled its way to three medals at the World Indoor Championships in Belgrade, Serbia, March 16-18. With McPherson on anchor, Jamaica helped bring the curtain down with a gold medal run in the 4x400m relay.

Junielle Bromfield dilly-dallied through traffic to deliver the baton to Janieve Russell in second place and Russell overtook Holland with a surging leg. Then Roneisha McGregor held off her attackers to give McPherson an advantage she wouldn’t relinquish. Their splits – 52.36 for Bromfield, 51.52 for Russell, 53.57 for McGregor and 50.95 for McPherson – added up to a seasonal best time of 3 minutes 28.40 seconds. Holland clocked 3.28.57 for the silver medals.

Bahamian Shaunae Miller-Uibo, Holland’s Femke Bol and McPherson broke away from their opponents in the first half of the 400m final. They finished in that order, with Miller-Uibo crossing the line in 50.31 seconds. Injured in last year’s Olympic final, McPherson sped to a national indoor record of 50.79 seconds.

The old mark – 50.93 seconds – was set by Sandie Richards when she won the 1993 World Indoor title. The new record made the 33-year-old MVP Track Club athlete just the third Jamaican to reach the podium in this event after Richards, who was the champion in 1993 and 1999, and 2014 silver medal winner Kaliese Spencer.

Jamaica’s second individual medal came in the triple jump. Kimberly Williams had challenged Yulimar Rojas of Venezuela at the last World Indoor Championships, held in Birmingham 4 years ago and in Belgrade, she opened at 14.59m and, on her final attempt, she bounded to a season’s best of 14.62m and the bronze. Rojas smashed her own world record with a monumental distance of 15.74m with Ukrainian Maryna Bekh-Romanchuk, 14.74m, in the silver medal position.

The team’s combined effort elevated Jamaica to the third position on the World Indoor Championships medal table. In addition to the medals, Natoya Goule and Britany Anderson placed fourth in the 800 and the 60 hurdles respectively, with Brianna Williams and Shericka Jackson 5th and 6th in the 60m and Danniel Thomas-Dodd 6th in the shot put.

Brianna and Shericka set the same personal best time of 7.04 seconds in the 60m final. Thomas-Dodd didn’t go quietly either. The 2018 silver medallist launched a season’s best of 19.12m in the shot.

Sadly, world-leading 60m hurdler Danielle Williams hit a mid-race barrier in her first-round heat and was eliminated and Olympic 400m finalist Christopher Taylor stopped in his semi due to a knee injury incurred when he was bumped in the prelims.

The meet climaxed with a pole vault world record of 6.20m by Sweden’s Armand Duplantis.