THE third and final batch of 16 athletes and one official is due to leave Kingston this morning at 7:20 am headed for Eugene, Oregon for the IAAF World Junior Championships that start on Tuesday at Hayward Field.

Today’s group will include gold medal contender Jaheel Hyde as well as four other World Youth Championships medallists Martin Manley, Michael O’Hara, Marvin Williams and Christoff Bryan.

Hyde in the 110m hurdles, Manley in the 400m, O’Hara in the 200m and Williams in the 400m hurdles had won gold medals at last year’s World Youth Championships, while Bryan had won a bronze in the high jump.

Jevaughn Minzie, who will be Jamaica’s main hope for a medal in the men’s sprints, is also in this group along with quarter-miler Nathon Allen, sprint hurdler Tyler Mason and World Youths 400m hurdles finalist Okeen Williams.

The athletes will travel to Miami where they will be joined by US-based hurdler Daeshon Gordon before transferring to a flight to Los Angeles. They will stop in Los Angeles before continuing to Eugene, scheduled to arrive there at 10:45 pm local time (7:45 pm Jamaican time).

Two groups — totalling 25 other athletes and 11 officials — had left on Friday and reports reaching the Sunday Observer are that they arrived safely in Eugene and were due to take part in light workouts yesterday afternoon.