IT will be a busy first day for the Jamaican contingent at the three-day IAAF World Indoor Championships in Sopot, Poland, starting early tomorrow morning (Jamaican time).

Twelve of the 23-member Jamaican team will be in action on the opening day, competing in eight disciplines, with the men’s shot put the only final that could feature a Jamaican.

One hundred and forty one countries have entered a total of 587 athletes in the championships that will offer nearly US$2.5 million in prize monies and bonuses.

The Jamaican team will include two medallists and three finalists from the most recent championships, two-time women’s 60m champion Veronica Campbell Brown, men’s 60m silver medallist Nesta Carter, and triple jumper Kimberly Williams, who was fifth in Istanbul, Turkey, in 2012.

Jamaican athletes will compete in the 400m for men and women, men’s 60m, men’s shot put, women’s 800m, women’s 60m hurdles, women’s triple jump and men’s long jump.

Carter will be seeking to make it to a third straight final in the 60m and will be accompanied by Kimmari Roach in the first round that will be run in the afternoon session tomorrow.

Carter, who won the bronze medal in the 100m at last year’s IAAF World Championships in Russia, is ranked at number seven on the performance list going into the championships after running 6.53 seconds at the Birmingham Indoors recently.

Injuries to Great Britain’s James Dasaolu and France’s Jimmy Vicaut will help Carter’s chances of getting back to the medal podium.

Williams is a legitimate medal hopeful in the triple jump after making the final in the Olympics in 2012 and the World Championships last year, and she will hope to finish better than the fifth place she got in Istanbul.

Williams is expected to battle Kseniya Dziatsuk of Belarus for the bronze behind the leading contenders, Russia’s Yekaterina Koneva and Ukraine’s Olha Saladuha, the silver and bronze medallists from the 2013 World Championships.

The qualification will be held in the morning session tomorrow, along with both 400m heats, the men’s shot put, and the women’s 800m.

Damar Forbes will also have a good shot at a place in the men’s long jump final and will start his quest in the second session, but may need to come close to his personal best of 8.25m if he hopes to make it to the medal contention on Saturday’s second day.

Patricia Hall, a semi-finalist in Istanbul and hurdles specialist Kaliese Spencer will represent Jamaica in the women’s 400m, while Akheem Gauntlett and Edino Steel will contest the men’s 400m.

The qualifiers will then contest the semi-finals later in the afternoon.

O’Dayne Richards, the former World University Games champion and present Central American and Caribbean Games record holder, will hope to qualify for the final of the men’s shot put tomorrow afternoon, but will have the odds stacked against him, as he comes into the competition ranked 15th overall of the 21 men entered in the competition.

Natoya Goule is the only Jamaican in the women’s 800m, while Central American and Caribbean 100m hurdles champion Monique Morgan and Indira Spence will contest the women’s 60m hurdles.

On Saturday’s second day the women’s 60m featuring Campbell Brown and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, the men’s 60m hurdles and the heats of both 4x400m relays will be held.