Jamaica strikes gold at Pan American Games
KINGSTON, Jamaica— Jamaica won five medals, including two gold, on Wednesday’s third day of competition in track and field at the Junior Pan-American Games in Asuncion, Paraguay.
After suffering through two days without a medal, the Jamaicans finally got off the mark on Wednesday with gold medals from Jasauna Dennis in the men’s 400m and Tyreece Hyman in the men’s 400m hurdles and are sixth in the tables among 19 countries that have won at least one medal so far.
There were also bronze medals for Romario Stewart in the men’s 400m hurdles, Daynea Colstock in the women’s 400m hurdles and Shanakaye Anderson in the women’s 400m.
Dennis ran a championship record 45.56 seconds to win his gold medal, breaking the 45.59 seconds set in 2021.
Trinidad and Tobago’s Jaden Marchan ran a personal best 45.80 seconds for second, and Brazil’s Vinicius Galeno was third with 45.83 seconds.
Shaemar Uter was fifth in 46.13 seconds.
Hyman ran a second personal best at the championships after he won the men’s 400m hurdle event in a smart 48.90 seconds, after he had run 49.03 seconds in the semis on Monday.
Brazil’s Matheus DaSilva, who had beaten Hyman in semis, setting the championships record 48.23 seconds, took the silver medal with 49.28 seconds, while Romario Stewart lowered his personal best to 50.11 seconds for the bronze, beating the 50.79 seconds he had run at the JAAA national championships in June.
Anderson won Jamaica’s first medal of the championships when she finished third in the women’s 400m in 53.41 seconds, as Canada’s Dianna Proctor ran a championships record 51.97 seconds to take the gold and Bermuda’s Caitlyn Bobb won the silver medal with 52.14 seconds.
Daynea Colstock ran a lifetime best 58.78 seconds for third in the women’s 400m hurdles, which was won by Mexico’s Antonia Sanchez in a championship record 55.91 seconds, while the US Virgin Islands’ Michelle Smith was second with 56.61 seconds.
Kishay Rowe missed a medal for the second straight day after she was fifth in the women’s 1500m in 4:29.03 seconds.
Jamaica suffered misfortune in the 100m hurdles where two medals were expected, as Oneka Wilson did not complete the race, while Brianna Campbell was disqualified under World Athletics rule TR22.6, the athlete was deemed not to have cleared one of the 10 hurdles legally.
All four Jamaicans have qualified for the finals of the men’s and women’s 200m finals on Thursday after they were all fourth in their respective semi-finals on Wednesday.
Sanjay Seymore ran 21.13 seconds (0.0m/s) in his men’s semis, and Odaine Crooks clocked 21.18 seconds (0.0m/s) in his race.
Marissa Palmer clocked 23.82 seconds (0.9m/s) in her semi-final of the women’s 200m, and Alliah Baker ran 24.23 seconds (0.9m/s) in her race.
Meanwhile, both men, Shavan Jarrett and Dylan Decambre, failed to advance in the 800m semis.
Jarrett led for 650 metres before he ran out of gas and ended sixth in his semi-final race in 1:54.89 seconds and Decambre was disqualified for lane infringement after he had placed fourth in his race.