Jamaica got off the mark on yesterday's fourth day of the World University Games (WUG) being staged in Kazan, Russia, after the country's student-athlete representatives secured bronze medals in both the men's and women's 400m.
University of the West Indies' Nicholas Maitland was third in the men's event with a personal best (PB) 45.63 seconds, while Anastasia LeRoy of G.C. Foster College took bronze in the women's equivalent in 51.72.
The 23-year-old Maitland, who improved his PB from 45.79, is representing Jamaica and UWI for the first time.
His race was won by Russia's Vladimir Krasnov in a season best (SB) 45.49, with silver going to Brazil's Anderson Henriques (45.50).
This was the 25-year-old LeRoy's first individual medal at the WUG, having placed fourth in the 200m and helped Jamaica to silver in the 4x100m relay at the previous staging in 2011.
LeRoy was led across the finish line by the Russian duo of Ksenia Ustalova, who won the event in a SB 50.60 and Alena Tamkova, who ran a PB of 51.17.
Defending men's 200m champion Rasheed Dwyer moved one step closer towards retaining his title after winning Quarter-final Two in 21.07 seconds.
Second in Dwyer's quarter-final was Russia's Artur Reysbikh (21.19), with Ghana's Emmanuel Appiah (21.30) third.
The 24-year-old Dwyer, who attends G.C. Foster College, has the joint 12th fastest time ahead of today's semi-final and final. The fastest time belongs to Japan's Shota Iizuka (20.74), logged in Quarter-final One.
Dwyer has a PB of 20.20, done while winning gold at the 2011 staging in Shenzhen, China.
Shanieka Thomas of San Diego State University advanced to tomorrow's final of the women's triple jump with the fourth longest mark of 13.58m.
The top three going in to the final are Russia's Ekaterina Koneva (14.47m), Cristina Toma (13.71m) of Romania and Poland's Anna Jagaciak (13.70m).