IT was a tough first day for Jamaica in the 9th IAAF World Youth Championships in the Pascual Guerrero Stadium in Cali, Colombia, yesterday, as 11 of the 17 athletes who took part in the respective first round failed to advance.

Fifteen-year-old Christopher Taylor in the 400m, sprint hurdlers Janeek Brown and Sydney Marshall, and intermediate hurdlers Jauavney James and Junelle Bromfield were the Jamaicans who managed to get past their first round and will seek to make further progress on today’s second day.

Xavior Angus with 10.59 seconds (0.4m/s), and Andre Morrison with 10.79 seconds (-1.2m/s) progressed from the first round of the boys’ 100m in the morning session.

Both failed to get past the semi-finals, however, as Angus could only manage fourth place with 10.61 seconds (-0.2m/s), and Morrison was eighth in his semi-final in 10.85 seconds (-1.2m/s).

Another eight athletes will make their first appearance on today’s second day of competition, with high jumper Lushane Wilson, along with Sah-jay Stevens and Devia Brown in the girls’ shot put preliminaries; Kimone Shaw and Venesha Pusey in the first round of the girls’ 100m; Alex Robinson and Chadick Brown in the boys’ 110m hurdles; and 800m runners Chrissani May and Leon Clarke in the girls’ and boys’ events, respectively.

Yesterday, Taylor, who came into the championships as the favourite to win the 400m, finished second in 46.30 seconds, beaten by Colombia’s Anthony Jose Zambrano, who ran a personal best 46.27 seconds.

The other Jamaican in the event, Anthony Carpenter, was fourth in his heat in 48.31 seconds and failed to advance.

Both female 400m runners failed to get past the first round as Satanya Wright ran 57.11 seconds for fourth in her heat, and Janiel Moore was sixth in her first-round heat in 59.20 seconds.

It was better news in the girls’ 100m hurdles as Brown and Marshall made progress as automatic qualifiers, both placing third in their first-round heats.

Marshall clocked 13.89 seconds (-1.3m/s) and Brown was timed in 13.67 seconds (-1.4m/s) and will line up today for a place in the final.

Jauavney James ran a personal best 52.38 seconds for third in his 400m hurdles first-round and advanced to today’s semi-finals, beaten by a World Youth leading 50.87 seconds by Japan’s Ryusei Fujii and South Africa’s Morne Van As with 52.16 seconds. Lenardo Ledgister did not show for his first-round race.

Junelle Bromfield also advanced in the girls’ 400m hurdles, winning her first-round heat in 58.86 seconds, but Shian Salmon failed to move on after she finished seventh in her heat in one minute, 05.56 seconds.

Despite throwing a personal best 19.00m, Kevin Nedrick failed to advance in the shot put, finishing 14th and missing the top 12, while Kyle Mitchell failed register a legal mark.

Nine throwers achieved the automatic qualifying mark of 19.45m.

Both girls’ discus throwers also exited after the first round, Devia Brown finished 24th overall with a best throw of 40.21m, just ahead of teammate Shyledeen Smith with 40.20m.

Paketo Dudley had a best jump of 7.16m (0.2m/s) and finished 17th overall in the boys’ long jump failing to advance.