- Contributed
Schillonie Calvert (left) accepts the baton from 100m bronze medallist Carrie Russell during the preliminary round of the women's 4x100m on Saturday's fifth day of the 11th IAAF World Junior Track and Field Championships at the Chaoyang Sport Centre in Beijing, China.

Anthony Foster, Freelance Writer

Beijing, China:

Jamaica enter today's final day of the 11th IAAF World Junior Track and Field Championships here at the Chaoyang Sport Centre in the Chinese capital with hopes of winning four more medals.

Jamaica will contest all four relay finals and rank among the favourites after impressive performances in the heats.

The men's 4x100m team of Winston Barnes, Remaldo Rose, Cawayne Jervis and 100m bronze medallist, Yohan Blake, raced to a world-leading 39.18 seconds to win heat three ahead of Great Britain (39.30).

The men's 4x400m relay team of Gwaine Grey, Allodin Fothergill, Jair Francis and Tarik Edwards, finished second in 3:08.57 behind Poland (3:07.69). Russia won their heat in a world leading 3:05.59 while United States took heat one in 3:06.07.

Excellent chance

Edwards, a student at the University of West Indies, believes they should be able to improve on their time with a couple of changes to the team.

"I think we have a very good chance with the fresh legs coming in. We will be able to run a faster time," Edwards said.

He continued: "Definitely wining, that is what we are aiming for, nothing else."

Head coach Maurice Wilson supported Edwards' statement by saying "we are going to make two changes" to the mile relay team.

As for the women's 4x100m and 4x400m teams, though they advanced, they have injury concerns.

Injuries

Kettiany Clarke, who finished seventh in the 100m hurdles on Friday, pulled up with a hamstring injury on the first leg of the sprint relay yesterday, while mile relay third leg runner Shana-Gaye Tracey, who has not fully recovered from her hamstring injury sustained at the Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games last month, looked out of form.

The 4x100m team, which includes Anastasia Le-Roy, 100m bronze medallist, Carrie Russell, Schillonie Calvert and Clarke, won their semi-final in a season best 44.49 seconds, while the mile relay quartet of Sherene Pinnock and Kaliese Spencer, bronze and gold medallists respectively from the 400m hurdles, along with Tracey and 400m silver medallist Sonita Sutherland, finished second in semi-final one in 3:33.26 behind winners Nigeria (3:33.0).

Despite the obstacles, Wilson described the day's work as "objectives achieved".

He said the coaching staff, which has top Jamaican coach Glen Mills as its technical director and Olympic 400m hurdles gold medallist Deon Hemmings as assistant manager, will have to work overtime to find the right combination.

"We are going to consult with the rest of coaches, the doctor, the medical team and then we make the decision from there," Wilson said.

The man who guided Holmwood girls to four straight high school championships title added: "We have some people who are injured, and we want to put the most suitable bodies out there to represent our country."

Strong contenders

Edwin Allen's schoolgirl Naffene Briscoe is the likely replacement for Clarke, according to coach Mark Prince, as Danielle Jeffrey has not yet recovered from her hamstring injury she picked up at the CAC Junior Champion-ships on July 14.

The Jamaicans are strong gold medal contenders for the women's mile relay, but with Bobbie-Gaye Wilkins out with an injury and Latoya McDermott and Tracey short of quality races, the coaching staff has a dilemma on its hands.

Wilson said McDermott looks the likely replacement, though he is not ruling out Le-Roy as a late inclusion.

"McDermott has a nagging injury, but the physio is taking care of it so we are going to see what will happen tomorrow (today), but there has to be some changes," he explained.

Asked if he will consider using Le-Roy, Wilson said: "She is going to be on the 4x100m definitely, as for the 4x400m it's definitely touch and go."

Not taking part in any medal event yesterday, Jamaica dropped two places to ninth on the medal's table with one gold, one silver and three bronze.

Caribbean neighbours Trinidad and Tobago improved to joint fifth, along with Bulgaria, with two gold medals each. However, Kenya with five gold, five silver and two bronze continue to lead the pack ahead of hosts China (5G, 3S, 5B) and Russia (4G, 2S, 3B).

Meanwhile, in individual events yesterday, Keiron Stewart and Andre Collins failed to advance to the men's 110m hurdles final.

Stewart (14.15) finished sixth in semi-final two while Collins (14.40) was eighth in semi-final three.