Petersfield High’s Svein Lawrence will be aiming to capture the gold medal in the Boys’ Class One long jump on the second day of the ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys’ and Girls’ Athletics Championships at the National Stadium.

Lawrence heads into Wednesday’s final as the massive favourite with a mark of 7.23m. He is expected to receive a strong challenge from Cornwall College’s Kenomar Jones (7.21m) and Jamaica College’s (JC) Michael Andre Edwards (7.16m) and Jaivar Cato also of JC (7.02m). Kingston College’s (KC) Anthony Hall (6.89m), and Calabar’s Romaine Lewis (6.89m) completed the list of top contenders in the final.

Ricoy Hunter of St Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS) , who was a bronze medallist in the event last year and pre-championship favorite Shamir Kelly (Kingston College), who had entered with a leading 7.45m mark, both failed to progress to the final of the event.

In Class Two, STETHS Rodeeki Walters leapt to 7.14m to lead all qualifiers for Wednesday’s final of the event.

Walters, who needed only one jump to qualify, was a silver medallist in the event last year. His mark was over the 6.50m automatic qualifying distance.

Amani Phillips of KC also needed only one attempt to get to 6.84m, while his teammate Omarian Miller was third-best with a distance of 6.79m. Roshane Francis of Wolmer’s Boys’ jumped 6.76m, Michael Graham of Excelsior had 6.66m and Shadane Lewis of Petersfield had 6.62m are the other main qualifiers for the final.

— Robert Bailey