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IAAF World Under 20 | Chang, women's mile relay team, help Jamaica to best ever medal tally

Published:Sunday | July 15, 2018 | 12:00 AMRaymond Graham
Chang

Jamaica recorded its best ever medal tally at the IAAF World Under-20 Championships, with Kai Chang's discus gold and the bronze won in the women's 4x400m relay, closing the Jamaicans' campaign on 12 medals.

The country picked up its fourth gold this morning in Tampere, Finland when Calabar High school's Kai Chang won the Men's Discus event with a personal best, 62.36 metres.

Chang used his second attempt to record his winning throw, as Yauheni Bahutski of Belarus had to settle for the silver medal, with a 61.75 metres effort. The bronze medal went to Claudio Romero of Chile, who had a mark of 60.81 metres. 

In the women's 4x400m relay, the Jamaican team of Janielle Josephs, Stacey-Ann Williams, Shiann Salmon and Calisha Taylor, clocked 3:31.90, to finish third behind the United States, 3:28.74 and Australia, 3:31.36.

These results pushed the country to 12 medals, which betters the 11 won in 2002, when the Championship was held in Kingston.

It also means the Jamaicans (4 gold, 5 silver, 3 bronze) ended the championship in second place behind Kenya (6 gold, 4 silver, 1 bronze), which is the only country which won more gold medals than Jamaica.

The United States, which finished third in the medal standings with 17 medals (3 gold, 8 silver, 7 bronze), is the only country that earned more medals than the Jamaicans.