World Junior Champs opens in Canada today
Published:Monday | July 19, 2010 | 9:59 AM
The 13th International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) World Junior Championships will begin today in Moncton, Canada with Jamaica expected to lead the English-speaking Caribbean charge.
The official Opening Ceremony is scheduled to take place at 4.00pm in the afternoon, Jamaica time.
Only one event, the Girls’ 3,000 metre final, is scheduled for today, but there will be no Jamaicans in the event.
Fourteen of Jamaica’s 36 athletes are down to compete on tomorrow’s second day of the meet, including defending boys’ 100-metre champion, Dexter Lee, who will compete in the heats.
Lee will be aiming to create history at the championships by trying to win back-to-back titles in the sprint event.
The team’s technical leader, Raymond ‘KC’ Graham, says Lee is the country’s main medal hope.
Lee’s main challenge for the gold medal will be the fast-rising Frenchman, Jimmy Vicaut.
He and Lee both enter the Championships with a season’s best time of 10.16, while South Korea’s Gook-Young Kim and Americans Charles Silmon and Michael Granger are not too far behind.
Jamaica will seek to surpass the six medals won at the last Championships held in Bydgoszcz, Poland in 2008.