Jamaica take gold, silver in Under-17 boys’ long jump at Carifta Games

KINGSTON, Jamaica — Amani Phillips completed a brilliant Under-17 boys’ triple/long jump double as Jamaica added another four medals — two gold and two silver — on Monday morning’s penultimate session of the 52nd Carifta Games at the Hasely Crawford stadium in Port of Spain, Trinidad.

Jamaica, who are cruising to a 38th straight win in the three-day championships, started the final day with a bang with first and second places in the Under-17 boys’ long jump and the Under-20 girls high jump.

The four medals took Jamaica to 47 overall — 19 gold, 14 silver and 14 bronze.

There was drama in the Under-17 boys' long jump with the two Jamaicans swapping the lead on their final jumps.

Phillips, who had set a new championships record in the triple jump on Saturday’s opening day, led from the first round and was ahead with 7.28m before Michael Graham, the 100m gold medallist, jumped 7.33m on his final attempt, to move from fourth into the gold medal position.

Phillips, however, responded with a 7.49m effort as Trinidad and Tobago’s Michal Paul took the bronze medal.

Danielle Noble extended her outstanding season, taking the Under-20 girls’ high jump gold with a clearance of 1.80m, beating teammate Shanniqua Williams, who also cleared 1.80m, with Jah’kyle Mortan of the British Virgin Islands taking the bronze medal with 1.70m.

Meanwhile, Daniel Clarke ran 13.23 seconds (-1.2m/s) to equal the championship record set by Wilhem Belocian of Guadeloupe in 2014 in the first round.

Clarke and defending champion Shaquane Gordon, who also won his semi-final heat in 13.41 seconds (-1.6m/s) advanced to the final set for later in the day.

Tiana Marshall — 13.72 seconds ((-1.0m/s) and Bryana Davidson — 13.73 seconds (-1.7m/s) also made progress in the Under-20 girls’ 100m hurdles, while both boys 4x400m relay teams also qualified for their respective finals.

— Paul Reid