After two medal-less days, Jamaica roared to life on Wednesday on the Junior Pan American Video games in Asunción, Paraguay, gathering 5 medals—two of them gold—to vault into sixth place on the medal standings amongst 19 nations.
– Commercial –
The breakthrough got here within the males’s 400m and 400m hurdles, the place Jasauna Dennis and Tyreece Hyman delivered impressed performances that electrified the Jamaican camp. Their victories, backed by three bronze medals, underscored the island’s enduring dash custom.
Dennis runs into the file books
Dennis lit up the observe within the males’s 400m, storming house in a Championship Document 45.56 seconds, eclipsing the earlier mark of 45.59 seconds set in 2021. The 19-year-old’s commanding run gave Jamaica its first gold of the Video games.
Trinidad and Tobago’s Jaden Marchan chased him arduous, producing a lifetime finest 45.80 seconds for silver, whereas Brazil’s Vinicius Galeno was simply behind in 45.83 seconds for bronze. Jamaica’s Shaemar Uter clocked 46.13 seconds for fifth, including to the nation’s presence within the closing.
“This win is particular—it means Jamaica is on the board and I’m proud to have delivered,” Dennis stated after the race.
Hyman’s masterclass within the hurdles
Not lengthy after, Jamaica doubled its tally as Tyreece Hyman produced back-to-back private bests to assert the boys’s 400m hurdles crown. Having already clocked 49.03 seconds within the semi-final, he sharpened his execution to win gold in 48.90 seconds, outlasting Brazil’s Matheus Da Silva, who had earlier set the championship file within the heats (48.23).
Da Silva settled for silver in 49.28 seconds, whereas Jamaica’s Romario Stewart secured the bronze with a private finest 50.11 seconds, enhancing on the 50.79 seconds he ran on the nationwide championships in June.
Anderson and Colstock ship bronze medals
The Jamaican medal rush was complemented by two gutsy third-place finishes on the ladies’s facet.
Within the 400m, Shanakaye Anderson turned Jamaica’s first medalist of the Video games when she ran 53.41 seconds to clinch bronze. Canada’s Dianna Proctor blazed to gold in a championship file 51.97 seconds, whereas Bermuda’s Caitlyn Bobb took silver with 52.14 seconds.
– Commercial –
In the meantime, within the 400m hurdles, Daynea Colstock rose to the event with a lifetime finest 58.78 seconds for third. Mexico’s Antonia Sanchez dominated the occasion in a record-setting 55.91 seconds, with Michelle Smith of the U.S. Virgin Islands second in 56.61 seconds.
Hurdles heartbreak and close to misses
Not all of Jamaica’s medal hopes materialized. The ladies’s 100m hurdles resulted in disappointment when medal favorites Oneka Wilson failed to complete, and Brianna Campbell was disqualified underneath World Athletics rule TR22.6 for not clearing a hurdle correctly.
In distance occasions, Kishay Rowe narrowly missed the rostrum within the ladies’s 1500m, putting fifth in 4:29.03 minutes. The lads’s 800m semi-finals additionally proved unforgiving: Shavan Jarrett, after main for many of the means, pale to sixth in 1:54.89 minutes, whereas Dylan Decambre was disqualified for a lane violation after initially putting fourth.
Jamaicans advance within the sprints
There was trigger for optimism, nevertheless, as Jamaica pushed a number of athletes into Thursday’s 200m finals. Sanjay Seymore (21.13) and Odaine Crooks (21.18) each superior from the boys’s semi-finals, whereas Marissa Palmer (23.82) and Alliah Baker (24.23) certified from the ladies’s rounds.
With their golden breakthrough on Day Three, Jamaica’s athletes have reignited their marketing campaign, displaying that the medal desk could but shift additional of their favor.
