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CALI, Colombia

Sandrey Davison and Bouwahgjie Nkrumie won their 100 metres heats impressively to advance to the semi-finals of the short sprint on yesterday's opening day of the 2022 World Athletics Under-20 Championships in Cali, Colombia.

Davison won his heat in 10. 29 seconds while running against in 2.9 metres per second wind. Nkrumie clocked 10.39 to top his heat. The semi-finals will be run a 3:40 p.m. today. Botswana's Letsile Tebogo was the the fastest man entering the semi-finals as he set a championship record 10.00 in winning his heat.

Overall it was a good day on the track for Jamaica. Only Rushana Dwyer failed to advance after a seventh-place finish in her 800 metres heat in heat in two minutes 14.23 seconds. Manager of the Jamaica team, Juliet Parkes, was pleased with the overall display and stated that the team will bounce back despite some early setbacks. "Today is only day one and we had a few disappointments but most of our athletes have advanced to the next round of their events. We have a resilient set of athletes. They have worked hard and they will bounce back," said Parkes.

In the men's 110 metres hurdles, Dishaun Lamb won his heat in 13.67 seconds to be the sixth fastest qualifier going into today's semi finals. while Damar Prince crossed the line first in his heat in 13.80, the 14th fastest qualifier overall.

The biggest causality on the day for Jamaica was Cedricka Williams who failed to advance to the final of the women's discus after coming into the championships as the second-ranked athlete with a personal best 56.21 metres.

Competing in Group A of the qualifying round Williams could only manage a throw of 46 20 metres which had her ninth in her Group and 18th overall.

A disappointed Williams told STAR Sports that she had a problem with her release.

"I was ready to do well as I was very confident but I honestly do not know what went wrong . I think the problem was with my release but I am young and I will use this bad experience to bounce back in the future"' the Holmwood Technical High athlete said.

Kobe Lawrence booked his final berth in the men's shot put final after finishing second in his group with 19.85m. His throw was second overall. Christopher Young failed to advance from his group after his 18.13m placed him 17th overall. Only the top 12 advance to the final in the field events.

Yesterday also saw action in the mixed 4x400 metres. The quartet of Jasuana Dennis, Abigail Campbell, Malachi Johnson and Aaliyah Baker clocked a personal best 3:19.74 to finish second behind the United States who won the heat in a championship record of 3:18.65. The final will be run today.