Jamaica’s World Championships finalist Fredric Dacres and Omar McLeod were in sparkling form yesterday, setting new personal best marks in their respective events at meets in the United States.

Dacres, an IAAF World Junior Championships gold medallist, threw a world-leading 68.02m to win the men’s discus throw invitational at the Triton Invitational held at UC San Diego in La Jolla, California, while McLeod became the 14th Jamaican man to run under 10 seconds in the 100m when he clocked 9.99 seconds (2.0m/s) at a meet in Arkansas.

Dacres’ distance beat his previous best 66.75m set two years ago at the Texas Relays.

The Julian Robinson-coached athlete also moved past American Sam Mattis’s 67.45m, set at Franklin Field in Philadelphia on March 19, as the best throw in the world so far this year.

Traves Smikle, Dacres’ training partner, was second in the men’s Open with a mark of 63.01m.

McLeod, the recently crowned IAAF World Indoor 60m hurdles champion, became the first man to run under 10 seconds in the 100m and under 13 seconds in the 110m hurdles. He is also the 14th Jamaican man to run under 10 seconds for the 100m after he won the event at the John McDonnell Invitational at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville.

McLeod raced to 9.99 seconds (2.0m/s) to easily beat Markesh Woodson of Missouri with 10.13 seconds and John Teeters of Oklahoma State with 10.16 seconds.

American Olympian Wallace Spearmon, who like McLeod is an alumnus of the University of Arkansas, was fourth in 10.18 seconds.

McLeod joins an impressive list of athletes to dip under the 10-second barrier led by world record holder Usain Bolt’s 9.58 seconds set at the IAAF World Championships in Berlin in 2009, and owns the top three times ever run, 9.63 seconds set at the 2012 Olympic Games in London, and 9.69 seconds done in 2008 while winning his first Olympic Games title.

Yohan Blake’s 9.69 seconds set in Lausanne in 2012 makes him the joint second best ever with American Tyson Gay, while Asafa Powell’s best 9.72 seconds makes him fourth best ever.

Nesta Carter is the next best Jamaican with 9.87 seconds set in Madrid last year and is fifth on the all-time list.

Michael Frater’s 9.88 seconds set in Monaco in 2011 is next on the Jamaican list followed by Steve Mullings’ 9.89 seconds, also set in 2011 in Claremont, Florida, with Nickel Ashmeade’s 9.90 seconds set at the World Championships in Moscow last year.

Former Green Island High and St Elizabeth Technical sprinter Kemarley Brown, who has since switched allegiance to Bahrain, ran 9.93 seconds in 2014 to defend his California Community College Athletic Association title.

Four other Jamaicans have gone under 10 seconds — Mario Forsyth, best known for this 200m exploits, ran 9.95 seconds in Rietti, Italy, in 2010; Raymond Stewart’s 9.96 seconds set in Tokyo in 1991 was the national record for a long time; Percival Spencer ran 9.98 seconds in Kingston in 1997, while Commonwealth Games champion Lerone Clarke ran 9.99 seconds twice, the latest coming in 2009.