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Sprinters, jumpers launch Jamaica’s World Indoor medal quest - Thompson, Blake, Levell in men’s 60m showdown
March 20, 2026
Jamaica will be hopeful of closing out day one action with medals when the World Athletics Indoor Championships starts at the Kujawsko-Pomorska Arena today.
The nation's athletes will have the opportunity to open their medal tally in the men's 60 metres, the men's triple jump, and the women's high jump finals.
Jamaica will have three of the top 10 athletes in the world lining up in the men's 60m heats in Kishane Thompson, Bryan Levell and Ackeem Blake.
Levell will be the first Jamaican to take the field, as he will line up in heat three. Thompson will begin his rounds from heat five, while Blake is scheduled to run in heat seven.
The preliminary rounds of the 60m will begin at 4:20 a.m. with the top three from each heat, and the next three fastest times advancing to the semi-finals.
The semi-finals will begin at 2:16 p.m., before the grand finale set for 3:22 p.m.
Jordan Scott will be another Jamaican with a medal chance on day one, when he lines up in the men's triple jump.
Scott, the four-time national champion, had the season of his life last year where he shattered his personal best several times.
However, he fell just short of a major medal as he placed fourth in last year's World Indoors, and fifth at the Tokyo World Championships.
Scott, who has only competed once this year, will enter the event as the fourth-best athlete in the field this year.
He will face off against defending World Indoors champion Andy Diaz of Italy and world leader Yasser Triki of Algeria, among others.
Lamara Distin will be Jamaica's only representative in the women's high jump, at 5:39 a.m.
Distin enters the competition as the joint sixth-best ranked athlete in the world this year with a season best of 1.96m, not far from her personal best of 2.00m.
She will have to topple this year's world leader, and the event's favourite, Yaroslava Mahuchikh, who has cleared 2.03m this year and holds a personal best of 2.10m.
PRELIMINARY ROUNDS
Several other Jamaican athletes will also be in action in the preliminary rounds.
Reheem Hayles and Delano Kennedy will line up in the men's 400m in heats two and three, respectively.
The top two from each heat, along with the next four fastest times in the 400m, will advance to the semi-finals, set for 2:44 p.m.
Jamaica's Natoya Goule-Toppin and Kelly-Beckford will be in the heats of the women's 800m, while Navasky Anderson, the national 800m record holder, will be Jamaica's lone competitor in the men's 800m heats, as he lines up in heat one.
