Jamaica will be hoping for better luck on the second day of the World Athletics World Indoor Championships at Stark Arena in Belgrade, Serbia, after failing to medal on Friday’s opening day despite getting athletes into the finals.

Shericka Jackson and Briana Williams finished fifth and sixth, respectively, in the women’s 60m finals, both with personal best times of 7.04 seconds, the same season’s best as Elaine Thompson-Herah. Danniel Thomas-Dodd, meantime, was sixth in the women’s shot put final with a season’s best 19.12m.

Stephenie-Ann McPherson ran a season’s best 51.26 seconds, the best of the qualifiers to advance to today’s final where she hope to at least go one place better than her fourth-place finish in 2016 in Portland, Oregon.

There are, however, hopes for a change of fortune on the second day when Danielle Williams and Britany Anderson compete in the women’s 60m hurdles, Nigel Ellis in the men’s 60m and Natoya Goule-Toppin starts her competition in the 800m.

After the first two rounds, there was optimism of at least one medal in the women 60m, but despite producing their best ever times, Jackson and Williams, who were both making their World Indoor debuts, just missed a medal with four of the eight runners in the race all credited with the same time and had to be separated by 100th of thousands of a second.

Third-place Marybeth Sant-Price and fourth-place Ewa Swoboda of Poland, the pre-championships favourite, were also timed in 7.04 seconds as Switzerland’s Munjinga Kambundji, running in lane eight, won with a world-leading 6.96 seconds, her first time under 7:00 seconds and joint fourth fastest of all times with Jamaica’s Merlene Ottey and Greece’s Katerina Thanou.

Two Americans took the other medals as Mikiah Brisco (6.99) was second ahead of her compatriot Sant-Price.

Both Jamaican women lowered their personal best times twice on the day that saw three rounds of the race and ended up tied fifth all times on the Jamaican just ahead of Kemba Nelson’s 7.05 seconds set last year and behind Veronica Campbell Brown’s 7.00 seconds.

Jackson came into the championships with a best of 7.12 seconds set this year then ran 7.08 seconds in the semi-finals, while Williams had run her then personal best 7.09 seconds this year before running 7.06 seconds in the first round.

Meanwhile, national record holder — indoors and outdoors — Thomas-Dodd threw her second-best mark ever and best since 2018 when she set the national indoor record 19.22m to win the silver medal at the World Indoor Championship in Birmingham.

She was as high as third place in the second round when they got her first legal mark of 18.77m.

Portugal’s world leader Auriol Dongmo produced a massive 20.43m effort in the fifth round, to reclaim her lead from American Chase Ealey who had led briefly with an American Indoor Record 20.21m while Holland’s Jessica Schilder took the bronze medal with 19.48m.

McPherson produced a brilliant season’s best run to beat the well-respected Dutch runner Femke Bol in a close semi-final race, the fastest time in the second round.

McPherson, who just missed a medal in the 2016 renewal in Portland, Oregon, placing fourth, had placed second in her first-round race in the morning session, running 51.86 seconds pushing The Bahamas’ Shaunae Miller Uibo to a season’s best 51.74 seconds.

She ran a well-timed race on Friday to beat Holland’s medal favourite Femke Bol who was just behind with 51.28 seconds.

Miller-Uibo turned her semi-final race into a procession as she went out hard and cruised home in a second season’s best of the day 51.38 seconds, well ahead of Poland’s Justyna Swiety-Ersetic with 51.67 seconds.

Jamaica’s second entry in the women’s 400m, Roneisha McGregor failed to get past the first round finishing fourth in her first round heat in 52.89 seconds and 12th overall.

Christopher Taylor failed to finish his men’s 400m semi-finals, pulling up after the first lap of the 200m track after a tough first-round race where he placed second in 46.48 seconds despite a hard shoulder charge from Spain’s Bruno Hortelano-Roig as they were cutting over for the inside lanes.