Nigel Ellis lowered his personal best and World Junior leading 100m time to a sparkling 10.16 (1.3m/s) seconds to win the Under-20 boys 100m title on yesterday’s opening day of the 45th Carifta Games at the National Stadium in St George’s, Grenada.

Former Under-18 champion Raheem Chambers was third in 10.35 seconds as Barbados’s Mario Burke, who won the double last year, ran 10.29 seconds.

After earlier running 10.20 seconds in at the COCAA Western Championships in February, Ellis — who won the double at the ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys’ and Girls’ Championships showed he had a lot more as he powered his way to the second fastest time at sea level in the world so far this year.

Ellis, who beat last year’s champion Burke, led the Jamaican gold runs as they won three of the four titles on offer in both the 100m and 400m. Included in those gold medal wins, are IAAF World Youth Champion Christopher Taylor and national junior record holder Akeem Bloomfield, who both retained their titles in the boys’ Under-18 and Under-20 400m, respectively.

Taylor shook off reports of injuries and hardly broke a sweat as he cruised to 47.36 seconds in the Under-18 section, saying afterwards he was “satisfied” with his run and “just came out to win”.

Barbados’s Antoni Hoyte-Small was second and Trinidad’s Onal Mitchell third.

Bloomfield ran 46.01 seconds, slower than his time in the semi-finals, but did enough to hold off Cayman Islands’ Jamal Walton- 456.23 seconds with the Bahamas’s Kinard Rolle third in 46.88 seconds.

Jamaica’s powerful team stamped their class early and then often as they won medals in every event they took part in to end the opening day well ahead in the medals tables with a preliminary count of 26 medals — 11 gold, 10 silver and five bronze.

Jamaica’s Kimone Shaw won her first individual gold taking the Under-18 girls’ 100m in 11.56 seconds (1.0m/s) beating the Bahamas’ Devine Parker (11.77 seconds) and Antigua and Barbuda’s Joella Lloyd (11.90), beating Jamaica’s Michae Marriott by a thousandth of a second .896 to .898.

Jevaughn Matherson won the Under-18 boys’ 100m in 10.42 seconds (1.4m/s) in a Jamaican 1-2, as Dejour Russell won the silver in 10.60 seconds ahead of Trinidad’s Adell Colthrust in 10.66 seconds.

Trinidad’s Florida-based IAAF World Youth Champions medallist Khalifa St Forte won the girls’ Under-20 gold medal into a strong head wind 11.40 seconds (- 2.7m/s) as Jamaica’s Patrice Moody was second in 11.68 seconds and The Bahamas’s Brianna Bethel third in 11.75 seconds with Shanice Reid of Jamaica fifth in 11.87 seconds.

Another packed day is scheduled for today with another 19 finals down to be decided, while the preliminaries of both the 200m and 800m events will be contested in the morning session with their finals set for Monday’s third and final day.

The finals set for today are the girls’ Under-18 discus throw, boys’ Under-18 high jump, boys’ pole vault Open, girls’ Under-18 long jump, boys Under-18 shot put, girls Under-20 triple jump, all four 400m hurdles, boys Under-20 javelin, boys Under-20 long jump, girls’ 3000m Open, boys’ 3000 Under-18, girls Under-20 discus throw, and all four 4x100m relays.