Jamaica’s Stephenie Ann McPherson produced her best-ever performance indoor, setting a new Jamaican indoor women’s 400m record 50.79 seconds to win the bronze medal on Saturday’s second day of the World Athletics World Indoor Championships at Stark Arena in Belgrade, Serbia.

The 33 year-old atoned for her fourth place at the 2016 renewal in Portland, Oregon, and her disappointing fourth place at last year’s Olympic Games in Tokyo to win Jamaica’s sixth medal in the event, adding to her world outdoors bronze won in 2013 in Moscow, Russia.

Unlike 2013, when she had to wait for a disqualification to get her medal in the mail, McPherson got her chance to stand on the medal podium and bask in the glory of her efforts.

That was Jamaica’s only medal on the day after Britany Anderson was fourth in the women’s 60m hurdles final and Nigel Ellis failed to get to the finals of the men’s 60m despite a personal best run in the first round.

Today, Olympic bronze medallist Ronald Levy will make his first appearance when the men’s 60m hurdles get under, two-time medallist Kimberly Williams will take part in the women’s triple jump while the women’s 4x400m relay team will seek a medal.

It was McPherson’s day Saturday, however, as after two impressive runs in the first two rounds on Friday’s opening day, she used her vast experience to get into position and delivered a medal.

Shaunae Miller-Uibo of The Bahamas justified her favourite tag, winning with 50.31 seconds, her third season’s best of the championships with Dutchwoman Femke Bol showing her diversity by taking silver in 50.57 seconds.

McPherson’s time beat the previous national indoor record of 50.93 seconds set by Sandy Richards in 1993, it was under her previous best of 51.26 seconds set in the first round on Friday and also move her past Novelene Williams Mills’ 51.25 done in 2006 and Charokee Young’s 51.24 seconds set in February.

The former Manning’s School student is the third Jamaican to medal in the event at the World Indoors after Richards, who won four medals — gold in 1993 and 2001 and silver in in 1995 and 1997 — and Kaliese Spencer, who took silver in 2014.

Despite going into the championships with a lot of hopes, Jamaica failed to add to their lone women’s 60m hurdles medal won in 1997 by Gillian Russell’s after Britany Anderson was fourth in the women’s 60m hurdles in 7.96 seconds.

It was the 21-year-old’s second major championship final in as many years, after qualifying for the Olympic final last year in Tokyo but for a slow start could have won her first medal at the senior level.

Jamaica was expecting as many as two medals in the event from Anderson and Danielle Williams, who came into the championships as the world leader and unbeaten all season.

Williams failed to get past the first round of the event for the second time however, after she clipped the third hurdle then crashed into the next one and could not recover, finishing well down the field in her heat in 8.23 seconds and 33rd overall.

Anderson had advanced safely through both early rounds, placing third in her first round heat in 8.10 seconds and then second in her semi-final heat in 7.85 seconds.

France’s Cyrena Samba-Mayela ran a national indoor record 7.78 seconds to win the gold medal, followed by Devynne Charleton of The Bahamas who ran back-to-back national indoor records, clocking 7.81 seconds for the silver with American Gabriele Cunningham third in 7.87 seconds.

Meanwhile, Natoya Goule-Topping will challenge for a medal on today’s final day after easily winning her 800m preliminary round race, running 2:01.65 seconds.

In the men’s 60m, Ellis ran a personal best 6.64 seconds for third in his 60m heat to advance to the semi-finals later today, dipping under his previous beat of 6.86 seconds that he ran in February in Arkansas, USA.

He could only manage fifth place in his semi-final heat, running 6.65 seconds and failed to advance to the final that was won by Olympic champion Marcel Jacobs of Italy in a world leading 6.41 seconds, separated by 3000th of a second from American Christian Coleman, the previous winner, with another American Marvin Bracy third in a personal best 6.44 seconds.

Meanwhile Caribbean athletes swept the 400m titles as Trinidad and Tobago’s Jereem Richards took the men’s gold medal in a championships record 45.00 seconds, breaking Costa Rican Nery Brenes’ 45.11 seconds set in 2012 in Istanbul then dedicated his win to his late former teammate Deon Lendore, who was killed in a motor vehicle crash in the USA in January.

Lendore won a bronze at the World Indoor Championships in 2016 and was a member of the Trinidad 4x400m team.