Jamaica looks to the women for medals on day three of World Championships

Photo: Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce will look to defend her world championship 100m title on day 3 of the World Championships in Beijing.

A day after the men opened the medal account for Jamaica with gold and bronze, the country will look to the women to increase the bounty on the third day of the 15th IAAF World Athletics Championships in Beijing, China.
Two women, Kimberly Williams and Shanieka Thomas, have advanced to the finals of the triple jump which will be contested at 6:30 Monday Morning (local time). Williams qualified with the 6th best distance of 14.23m and Thomas, the 8th best distance of 14.05m. Both ladies will be quietly confident that they can sneak into the top three but it will be easier said than done.

The top four in qualifying for today’s final, Gabriela Petrova of Bulgaria, Caterine Ibarguen of Colombia, Olga Saladukha of Ukraine and Olga Rypakova of Kazakhstan have all jumped better than 14.30m and it will take some doing to overhaul them now that medals are on the line.

The other event in which Jamaicans are likely to feature is the women’s 100m. All four entrants advanced to the semi-finals including defending champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and former champion Veronica Campbell-Brown. The other two athletes, Sherone Simpson who won silver when she last contested a 100m final inside the Birds Nest and debutant Natasha Morrison will be eyeing a spot in the final as they two take aim at the top of the podium.

The women’s 400m hurdles semi-final will be the first event in which Jamaicans will feature in the evening session. Kaliese Spencer will run out of lane four in semi-final two and Janieve Russell will run out of lane seven in semi-final three.

The quarter milers will also be in action on day three.

In the morning session the women will bow into action. National Champions Christine Day will run out of lane four in heat three, Stephenie –Ann McPherson will go out of lane fine in heat four, Shericka Jackson runs out of lane five in heat five and Novlene Williams-Mills will go from lane three in heat six.

The men’s semi-finals are in the evening session. Peter Matthews who ran a personal best in the heats, runs out of lane three in semi-final one, new national record holder Rusheen McDonald goes in semi-final two from lane five and Javon Francis runs in out of lane four in probably the toughest and final semi-final.