CALI, Colombia – Tina Clayton made a winning start to the defense of her women’s 100m title at the World Under-20 Championships, winning her first-round heat in 11.38 seconds (-1.0m/s) on Tuesday’s morning session at the Pascual Guerrero Olympic Stadium in Cali, Colombia.

Clayton, who has a personal best of 10.96 seconds, barely got out of first gear to win heat number one and was joined by teammate Serena Cole, who also won her heat in Wednesday’s semifinals in a time of 11.39 seconds (-0.8m/s).

Meanwhile, both representatives in the Men’s and Women’s 400m also made progress to the semi-finals; Shaemar Uter was second in his heat with 46.66 seconds while Delano Kennedy ran a personal best 46.24 seconds for third place in his heat.

Dejanae Oakley won her women’s 400m heat in 53.70 seconds while Rickianna Russell advanced on time after she was fifth in her heat in 54.63 seconds.

Oneika McAnnuff made progress in the women’s 400m hurdles after running 59.45 seconds for third in her first round but Safhia Hinds failed to advance after running 1:00.97 seconds.

Brandon Pottinger qualified for the men’s high jump final after clearing 2.08m, the highest the bar went as none of the qualifiers got the 2.16m automatic height.

-Paul A Reid