BERLIN - Jamaican athletes had a good start on the first day of competition at the 2009 IAAF World Championships in the beautiful city of Berlin.

TRIPLE JUMP WOMEN

Jamaica’s road to World Championship glory began early on a beautiful morning in Berlin with the triple jump event. With the Olympic Stadium in Berlin alight with excitement Trecia-Kaye Smith and Kimberly Williams began the day. Neither one was able to make the automatic qualifying standard and both had two no jumps but Kimberly was able to achieve a personal best with a jump of 14.08m. Trecia qualified as one of the twelve best jumpers with her only good jump of 14.21. She later admitted that had she hit the board correctly on that jump she would have been able to make the automatic qualifying standard. We look forward to seeing Trecia give it another go on Monday afternoon.

100m MEN

Though partially empty, the Berlin Olympic Stadium came alive for the 1st Round of the 100m for Men. Michael Frater was the first Jamaican on the track, easily winning his heat in 10.30 and going on to take second place behind Tyson Gay in the second round in a time of 10.09. Asafa Powell craftily conserved his energy in the first round to automatically qualify in third place with a time of 10.38. Powell came back in the second round with a cool effortless first place finish in 9.95. Usain Bolt, amidst excitement from the international crowd, cruised ahead of the field in his usual style to win his first round heat in 10.20. In the second round Usain cruised to second place in 10.03 behind training mate Daniel Bailey of Antigua – the pair chatting their way to the finish line in what a German reporter remarked as a charming feat never seen before in a 100m race.

400m WOMEN

The Jamaican contingent continued to make their presence known when all three Jamaican entrants in the women’s 400m made it through to the second round. Although not an automatic qualifier Christine Day’s time of 53.10 put her through to enchant us for a second time while Novelene Williams-Mills (51.55) and Shericka Williams (51.23) were easy qualifiers, placing first and second respectively in their first round heats. This is an event where we will surely not be disappointed.

400m Hurdles MEN

In the afternoon session of the championships with the stadium full and abuzz after the opening ceremonies, Isa Phillips led the Jamaican charge in the men’s 400m hurdles when he comfortably won the first heat in round 1 in 48.99. Phillips commented that he is here to do his best in Berlin for his coaching team and family that have been so supportive of him. In the second heat Josef Robinson met with a bit of misfortune as he was unfortunately disqualified with a trail leg violation. Danny McFarlane successfully qualified for the next round when he finished second behind 2008 Olympic Champion Kerron Clemont in 48.65.