RoseGROSSETO, Italy, CMC:
JAMAICA'S REMALDO Rose snatched the Caribbean's first medal at the 10th IAAF World Junior Track & Field Championship when he finished third in the men's 100-metre final yesterday evening.
Rose clocked 10.39 seconds as he followed the winner, Ivory Williams (10.29) and Demi Omole (10.31) in an American 1-2 finish in the event.
The United States of America swept both 100-metre gold medals, as the powerful Ashley Owens sped to an unchallenged win in the women's race.
Trinidad and Tobago's Wanda Hutson just missed out on a medal, placing fourth on an evening when Uganda's Boniface Kiprop set a new world 10,000-metre record and local star Andrew Howe registered a superb win in the men's long jump.
In the men's 100 metres, two false starts appeared to have unsettled Antigua and Barbuda's Daniel Bailey and he placed fourth, narrowly missing a medal.
CARIFTA champion Bailey, who posted an Antigua National Junior Record 10.19 seconds in the semi-finals on Tuesday and was one of the race favourites, had the slowest reaction time of the top six finishers and finished in 10.39 seconds, 0.03 seconds behind Rose.
Gold medallist Williams and Saudi Arabia's Yahya Al-Gahes were quickest out of the blocks and while Al-Gahes faded in the last 30 metres, Williams remained strong and edged his teammate for the title, while Rose came on well for third.
Bahamian Grafton Ifill was sixth in 10.51 seconds.
Owens blew her opponents away in the women's 100 with an awesome display of power-running. She pulled away quickly after the gun from T&T's CAC Junior champion Hutson, who had got a decent start.
Owens clocked a world junior leading 11.13 seconds, to comfortably defeather fast-finishing teammate Jasmine Baldwin (11.34) and Australian Sally McLellan (11.40), while Hutson (11.45) faded into fourth.
"I wanted to go faster but I feel excited to win the first gold medal for the United States," said Owens, who predicted after her semi-final she expected 11.1 seconds would be needed to win the race.
Kerron Clement, who switched from Trinidad and Tobago to representing the United States earlier this year, asserted himself early in the men's 400 hurdles and kept the lead through to the last barrier, to win his heat in 50.10 seconds.
Jamaican CARIFTA gold medallist Markino Buckley (52.03) also advanced as a fifth placed fast loser, but his teammate Josef Robertson (53.05) exited the event with a seventh place finish.
Sherene Pinnock, another reigning CARIFTA champion for Jamaica, also advanced in the women's event at 58.58 seconds, but her teammate Trishana McGowan (1:06.65) was eliminated.
ELIMINATED
In the women's 400-metre semis, St. Vincent and the Grenadines' CAC Junior champion Kineke Alexander (56.42) and injured Trinidadian David Abigail (1:05.15) were eliminated, while Jamaica's CARIFTA champion Sonita Sutherland (54.19) advanced to the final with a fourth place finish.
American Natasha Hastings (53.50) was the quickest into the final.
There was more Caribbean disappointment in the men's 400, in which Trinidad and Tobago's CAC Junior champion Renny Quow was disqualified, Dominica's Roger Polydore did not finish his race, and Jamaica's Michael Gardner (47.49) was ousted after a fourth place finish in the first of three semi-finals.
Jamaica's CARIFTA Games champion Kayan Thompson advanced to the women's 800-metre final as one of the fastest losers when she clocked two minutes 05.13 seconds for fifth in the first semi-final.
Kiprop lowered Haile Gebrselassie's 12-year-old World Junior Championships 10,000-metre record by 0.22 seconds with a time of 28:03.77, and Howe delighted his home fans with a world junior leading 8.11 metres in the men's long jump.
Wilbert Walker, the first Jamaican to qualify for the final at the World Juniors, placed 12th of 12 with a leap of 7.10 metres. He had leapt 7.43m in qualifying the previous day.
