BYDGOSZCZ, Poland — Jamaica’s quest for medals and redemption in the IAAF World Under-20 (former World Junior) Championships will get underway this morning at the Zawiszaw Stadium in Bydgoszcz, Poland, with an enthusiastic group of young athletes, eager and ready to go according to head coach Danny Hawthorne.

In addition to their competitors, the Caribbean athletes are expected to battle cool conditions and intermittent rain.

Ten of the 39 athletes will be in action in five disciplines today, including the men’s 100m, women’s 400m and women’s discus throw, as well as the men’s shot put (including the finals), and the men’s long jump.

Raheem Chambers, the national junior champion, and Jhevaughn Matherson will contest the men’s 100m; Junelle Bromfield and national champion Tiffany James are the top ranked female quarter-milers here, and fourth-ranked women’s discus thrower, National Junior Record holder Shanice Love, are the athletes expected to lead the charge today.

Sanjay Lawrence and Kevin Nedrick will contest the shot put, while Shawn D Thompson and Obrien Wasome will contest the long jump qualifying.

As usual, team officials were hesitant to predict medal hauls, but Hawthorne, a veteran of leading teams to international competitions, described the confident mood in the Jamaican camp as “unprecedented”.

Jamaica won just six medals, one gold by Jaheel Hyde in the 400m hurdles two years ago in Eugene, Oregon, and the team fell out of the top five in the medals and points standings for the first time in a while and will be seeking to restore some lost pride this week.

“In my estimation I think we are all prepared and ready to go,” Hawthorne told the Jamaica Observer yesterday, as he oversaw the team going through its paces at the warm-up track.

“Tomorrow (Tuesday) I hope we can start off on a good note and start making our mark,” he said. “The team is in high spirits, I have never seen it like this before, it is unprecedented, and I just hope we can take this mood right through the competition and that we can do our best.”

Ewan Scott, the team leader, told the Observer that “in track and field anything is possible and we told the athletes that all we can ask is for them to do their best, get personal bests. If they get medals as well as that, then it’s a bonus, if they get the personal bests, but no medals, then no one can say the team did not do well.”

Up until the team left last Thursday, there were still speculations whether Nigel Ellis, the second-ranked athlete in the world, would contest the 100m here after he false-started and was disqualified in the event at the JAAA National Junior Championships a month ago.

Despite his not running the 100m Ellis was named in the three athletes on the entry form and that sparked speculations, but yesterday the team officials tried to convince the Jamaica Observer they had until this morning to make a declaration.

Both Chambers and Matherson were seen working on their starts with coach Reynaldo Walcott, while Ellis joined later and about 8:00 pm Bydgoszcz time (1:00 pm Jamaica time) the IAAF posted the starters on its website.

Matherson will contest heat number two and national champion Chambers is in the sixth and final heat with the first three in each heat and then next six fastest advancing to Wednesday’s semi-finals.

Chambers told the Observer his “confidence level is very high. I am ready for the competition, I am in very good shape and ready to run fast”.

Chambers, who was a relay medallist two years ago in Eugene, added: “I have been training for this competition since 2014 and it’s finally here, so I am ready to perform at my best.”

The Youth Olympics representative who is ranked joint ninth with Matherson with personal best times of 10.25 seconds, said he is used to the pressure and high level of competition and these will help him to achieve his expectations of a medal, “even a gold, but I want to leave here with a medal”.

Bromfeld had marked these championships as her personal redemption after failing to medal at last year’s Under-18 championships in Cali, Colombia, and is the fastest in the field with her 51.74 seconds.

She was second to James at the Junior Championships and the Mico University athlete ran a personal best 52.02 seconds and says she is aiming to go even faster this week.

“I think I am ready, ready physically and mentally, ready in every way,” she told the Observer.

Since the championships she said she had put in even more work as “I want to make my final World Juniors a great one. I failed to make the final the last time and want to be on the podium. I believe in myself and I will just take it round by round,” she said, adding that how she executes her races will determine how fast she runs.

With the top three advancing from each heat, both are expected to advance easily to Wednesday’s semi-finals.

Shanice Love has had an outstanding year, breaking the National Junior Record twice, taking it to 54.73m and could create some history if she makes it to Thursday’s final.

She should easily make the automatic qualifying distance of 51.50m, but Devia Brown will have to improve on her personal best by over three metres if she is to advance as well.

The men’s shot put will be the first event for the Jamaicans, set to start at 9.35 am (2:35 am Jamaica time) and Lawrence will be in the first group, while Nedrick will be in the second and both must throw 19.40m to automatically advance to this afternoon’s final.

Lawrence is ranked 13th with a personal best 19.45m while Nedrick is further down the list with 19.37m.

Both Thompson and Wasome could have difficulty advancing past the first round of the long jump.xBoth are tied in 23rd position in the field of 36 with identical season’s best 7.59m and will need 7.70m for the automatic qualifying standard to be in the top 12.