Day one saw Jamaica’s athletes excelling in most areas, with the majority of athletes advancing.
Pride of place went to the Mixed Relay team that ran superbly to finish behind the Americans who posted a Championship record of 3:18.65.
The quartet of Jausana Dennis, Abigail Campbell, Malachi Johnson and Alliah Baker were competitive and never further than second for most of the way. They went on to register the third fastest time overall, a personal best of 3:19.74. Baker anchored strongly and the team looked good enough for medal in the final.
There were no surprises in the men’s 100 heats. Sandrey Davison won his heat in 10.25 with little fuss to advance easily.
Bouwahjgie Nkrumie was quite impressive in running 10.39 into a 2.9m/s headwind. Both advanced to the semifinals.
The male sprint hurdlers were up first in the afternoon and they were all business. Demario Prince won heat two with 13.80 while Dishaun Lamb was even faster, finishing 3rd in heat seven with 13.69. Both advanced to Tuesday’s semifinals.
In the Shot Put for men, Kobe Lawrence progressed to the final with the second longest throw of 19.95m. Compatriot Christopher Young finished 17th overall with 18.13m but did not advance.
Rushana Dwyer was not at her best in the 800m heats, registering a modest 2:14 63, which way off the slowest qualifying mark of 2:10.40.