BYDGOSZCZ, Poland — While sports can bring glory, and in some cases fame and fortune, it can be an unforgiving master and disaster is sometimes a millisecond away, destroying in the blink of an eye what took months or years to build.

The first two evening sessions of the IAAF World Under-20 Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland, provided perfect examples as two Jamaican medal prospects crashed out before they even had the chance to challenge for MEDAL.

On the opening day, female team captain Shanice Love failed spectacularly in discus qualifying, not making a legal mark for the second consecutive IAAF event.

Twenty-four hours later, Carifta Games Under-18 champion Damion Thomas did not get past the first hurdle in the semi-finals of the 110m obstacle race, hitting the first barrier and had to watch as his dream of a medal went up in smoke before his very eyes.

Thomas had looked poised to run fast after clocking 13.48 seconds into a headwind and was just off his personal best 13.46 seconds, despite what he said then was a race with too many mistakes.

Team leader here. Ewan Scott said they have had sessions with the young athletes and have tried to get them to understand that these setbacks can be used as motivation to move forward.

“We always tell the athletes life is a learning experience, in life there will be disappointments,” he told the Jamaica Observer yesterday. “We tell them it’s not when you fall, it is what you do when you fall, and we try to tell them to use that as a building experience and to come again.”

Love, who broke the national junior record twice this year and who was unbeaten coming into the championships, had also fouled out two years ago at the event held in Eugene, Oregon, and watched as teammate Devia Brown progressed to the final with a personal best 49.56m, a distance she achieves without much effort.

Scott accepted the incidents could be costly, but pointed out that the athletes could rebound to even greater glory.

He said the coaches and management team urged the athletes not to dwell too much on the mishaps. “What don’t kill you make you stronger,” was the message he said they try to get through to the juniors. “Don’t dwell on it; there’s nothing you can do about it, it’s in the past, just bounce back and get going again.”

Scott said they had spoken to Love and she appeared to be dealing with the issues well.