Anthony Foster, Freelance Writer

Jamaica's silver-medal winning girls medley relay team of (from left) Shana-Gaye Tracey, Gayon Evans, Latoya McDermott and Jura Levy stand on the podium with their medals after finishing behind the United States.

Ostrava, Czech Republic:

Jamaica, led by Ramone McKenzie's golden 200m run, ended the 5th IAAF World Youth Championships with a record medal haul yesterday.

Jamaica, one of 152 countries which participated, will land in Kingston tomorrow night at about 9:20 p.m. with nine medals, bettering the eight the Veronica Campbell-led team won at the inaugural Championships in Poland eight years ago.

Jamaica, with nine medals - two gold (G), five silver and two bronze (B), finished in sixth position on both the medal tally and placings with 70 points.

The United States (14G, 6S, 8B), Kenya (11G, 5S, 6B), Russia (10G, 5S, 5B), Germany (8G, 5S, 3B) and Ukraine (4G, 1S, 3B) finished ahead of Jamaica on the medals table.

Of the 1,228 athletes, Jamaica's Nickel Ashmeade with three medals - silver in the 100m and bronze in the 200m and sprint medley; McKenzie and Dexter Lee, with gold in the 200m and 100m and bronze in the medley, were the top achievers on the boys side.

Latoya McDermott, who pocketed silver in the girls 400m and bronze in the medley, was the top female. Misha-Gaye DaCosta and Shermaine Williams with silver medals in the high jump and 100m hurdles were the only other individual medal winners on the girls side.

Head coach Michael Russell was a happy man after the record medal haul which, he said, was aided by the fact that they imposed curfew hours on the team.

"The team's performance was based on the fact that we had a tight schedule; basically we had curfews, we enforced the curfews, we had our daily devotions, our nightly meetings and we kept the spirit as high as wecould and the team just went out there and performed," he said.

Could have been one more

Jamaica's Ramone McKenzie (left) powers away from the field to win the boys 200m final at the IAAF World Youth Championships at the Ostrava National Stadium yesterday. McKenzie won in 20.67 seconds. - photos by Anthony Foster

While he is satisfied with nine medals, he said: "There could have been one more. We thought that Shana-Gaye Tracey would have medaled in the 400m hurdles, but she ran a personal best (57.74 for fourth), so that was good."

He hailed DaCosta's personal- best effort of 1.84m for silver in the girls high jump as the major highlight and Tarik Batchelor's 6.09m effort in the long jump as the big disappointment.

From an overall perspective though, he said: "The coaching staff, the management, the general secretary (JAAA), everybody is happy and we are sure that everyone in Jamaica must be proud of the team."

On yesterday's final day - hot and sunny - Jamaica secured medals in all four finals they contested: boys 200m, 100m hurdles girls and medley relays.

In the boys 200m, world leader McKenzie, who came under pressure from Guliyev of Azerbaijan (20.72), held on for the victory in 20.67, equalling his joint second- best performance this year.

"This was one of the hardest races," he said afterwards, adding "it's a great feeling."

McKenzie further disclosed that fellow Jamaican and world 100m record holder Asafa Powell was his motivation.

"My big motivation today was to walk in the footsteps of Asafa Powell," he continued.

Jamaica secured a second medal in the boys 200m final as Ashmeade was third in a personal best 20.76.

Despite his bronze medal placing, a proud Ashmeade expressed mixed feelings.

Asked if he was happy with his effort, he said: "Not quite ... I felt a little tight, my knee was not well, but I went out there to do it for Jamaica. I finished in the top three and I hopeI made Jamaica proud," he said.

Disappointing

Meanwhile, in the girls 100m hurdles final, Williams was also a bit disappointed after taking the silver in 13.48 seconds behind American Julian Purvis, who did a personal best 13.41.

"I am a bit disappointed because I was looking forward to PR again," said Williams, who ran a personal best 13.37 in the heats and 13.46 in the semi-finals.

Williams said her downfall came over the first four hurdles as she did not attack them well.

In the medley relays, the girls team of Gayon Evans, Jura Levy, Shana-Gaye Tracey and Latoya McDermott secured silver in 2:06.77 behind the United States (2:05.74).

In the boys event, the quartet of Lee, McKenzie, Ashmeade and Dwayne Extol finished third in 1:52.18 behind the United States (1:51.34) and Japan (1:51.42).