Anthony Foster, Freelance Writer

( L - R ) Winston Barnes, Remaldo Rose, Cawayne Jervis

Beijing; China:

Jamaica closed the six-day IAAF World Junior Track and Field Championships here at the Chaoyang Sport Centre in the Chinese capital, the home for the 2008 Olympics, with a gold medal run in the men's sprint relay yesterday. With a gold and two bronze medals from the women's sprint and 4x400m relay teams, Jamaica ended the championships in sixth position with two gold, one silver and six bronze, as only Kenya (6G, 6S, 3B), China (5G, 5S, 7B), United States (4G, 5S, 2B), Russia (4G, 3S, 3B), and Estonia (4G) finished ahead. In the sprint relay, the quartet of Winston Barnes, Remaldo Rose, Cawayne Jervis and 100m bronze medallist, Yohan Blake, set a new national junior record of 39.05 seconds.

The 2006 world leading time erased the previous national record of 39.15 set by the quartet of Winston Hutton, Orion Nicely, Yhann Plummer, and Usain Bolt at the World Junior Championships in Kingston, four years ago. It was the second Jamaica sprint relay gold medal in the 22-year history of the World Junior Championships, this as Dwight Thomas, Steve Slowly, Paul Thompson and Roy Bailey won at the 1998 edition in Annecy (39.70).

Power starter

The young men were elated with their performances, this after entering the final with a then world leading 39.18, which had made them the favourites. The USA finished second in a season best 39.21 with Great Britain third, also in a season-best 39.24.

Blake said they combined very well. "Winston Barnes is a power starter, Rose ran the backstretch superbly, Jervis the corner, I could not ask for more, and getting the baton in first place, I just demolished the field.

He, however, added that the coaches must also be commended, especially after coming up with a superb race plan.

"We have to give credit to all the coaches, they are good coaches, from we got here until now, we have to give them extra credit. Rose said it's always a good feeling to beat USA and he gave 110 per cent to make sure that happened while Barnes and Jervis said their job was to get the baton to the fastest men.

"It's a very big win for Jamaica," Barnes said while Jervis said: "I handled the job better than the first round." Meanwhile, the women's 4x100m team of Naffene Briscoe, Anastasia Le-Roy, Carrie Russell and Schillonie Calvert, stopped the clock in a season best 44.22 seconds. Briscoe, who came in for the injured Kettiany Clarke, said they are satisfied with the bronze. "We couldn't ask for anything more," she said.

Fully recovered

"This is the World Junior Championships, it's where every junior will want to be and to come here and get a bronze, we could never ask for more," she said. The 4x400m relay quartet of Latoya McDermott, who has not fully recovered from injury, Sherene Pinnock, Sonita Sutherland and 400m hurdles champion Kaliese Spencer, secured bronze in a season best 3: 31.62.

USA won in a world leading 3:21.01 ahead of Nigeria (3:30.84).

Sutherland said they are happy with the outcome.

"It's good that we won a medal," said, Sutherland, the 400m silver medallist.

"McDermott came in with an injury, so we were just praying that she get around the baton, so we could get to finish the race É we are happy for this bronze," she added. The team was missing Bobbie-gaye Wilkins, who picked up an injury on the trip. The men's 4x400m team finished sixth in 3:08.27, and according to Ramone McKenzie, they made a few mistakes.

"It was just some mistakes on the second leg, and some other mishaps," Mckenzie pointed to as the reason for the low place finish. Though he believes the best team won on the day, Edino Steele, said bad running hampered his second leg. "I wouldn't want to blame myself for an incident on the second leg, but it was a hard leg to run when people are just cutting into you," he said.

United States won gold in a world leading, 3:03.76 ahead of Russia (3: 05.13).

The Jamaica team is due home tomorrow at approximately 9:30 p.m.