Jamaica secured its first medals in track and field today to take the overall medal tally to four at the 2018 Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast in Australia.
Christania Williams and Gayon Evans won silver and bronze respectively in the women’s 100 metre final while Yohan Blake added bronze in the men’s equivalent.
Williams clocked 11.21s on her way to second in the women’s event behind the winner Michelle-Lee Ayhe of Trinidad & Tobago who took gold in 11.14 seconds.
Evans produced a personal best 11.22s for third while Natasha Morrison ended out of the medals in 5th in 11.31s.
2011 world champion Blake meanwhile stumbled out of the blocks in the men’s event and recovered to finish third in 10.19s.
The event was won by Akani Simbine of South Africa in 10.03s.
Jamaica now climbs to 19th on the medal table with two silver and two bronze. Australia leads the way with 38 gold, 32 silver and 33 bronze.
Action earlier on day 4 saw national record holder O’Dayne Richards just missing out on a medal in the men’s shot put after his throw of 20.80m saw him being pipped into 4th by Tim Nedow (20.91m) of Canada.
Ashinia Miller (19.68m) had to settle for 7th with Tomas Walsh of New Zealand landing gold at 21.41 metres.
Schoolboy Dejour Russell meanwhile secured his place in the 110m hurdles final as one of the fastest losers after finishing 4th in heat one in a time of 13.64s.
Hansle Parchment (13.30s) and Ronald Levy (13.35s) placed first and second respectively in heat two to cement their place in the medal round.
Stephanie-Ann McPherson (50.80s) won her 400m first round heat and along with Tovea Jenkins (52.58s) and Anastasia Le-Roy who recorded a season best 51.37 seconds, all advanced to the semi-finals.
In the men’s competition Javon Francis, Demish Gaye and Rusheen McDonald made progress to the final.
Francis clocked a season best 45.38s for second in his semifinal, McDonald, the national record holder, was also second in semifinal 3in 45.77s while Gaye secured his place as one of the fastest losers after placing third in his semi-final 2 in 45.85s.
On the court, the Sunshine Girls produced another statement performance while confirming their place in the semi-finals after cruising to a 76-32 win over Caribbean neighbours Barbados in their penultimate Pool A encounter.
They were led by Jhaniele Fowler-Reid who scored a game high 32 goals from 36 attempts.
Romelda Aiken supported with 28 from 33 while Shanice Beckford added 12 from 14.
The Sunshine Girls who are unbeaten after 4 games now go on to face Australia for group honours on Wednesday.