Facing the number-one team in the world twice in the same tournament proved a hill too steep to climb for Jamaica’s Sunshine Girls on Sunday after losing 55-51 to the now four-time Commonwealth Games champions Australia in the gold medal match at the NEC Arena.

Despite heroic efforts from Captain Jhanielle Fowler who scored 46 goals from 47 attempts and a perfect five from Shanice Beckford, Jamaica found the Diamonds too hard to break the second time around.

Jamaica defeated Australia 57-55 to win Pool A in the preliminary rounds and followed up with an emphatic 67-51 victory over New Zealand, the second-best team in the world that claimed the bronze medal Sunday morning after defeating England 55-48.

In the gold-medal encounter, the Australians edged Jamaica 14-12 in a keenly contested first quarter but the Jamaicans showed grit rebounding to win the second quarter 17-15 to see both teams remain deadlocked at the half-time break.

Australia broke the game open in the third quarter outscoring the Jamaicans 16-10 to take a six-point lead into the final stanza. Australia extended the lead to seven goals late in the quarter but Jamaica was not prepared to yield and fought valiantly outscoring the champions 12-10 but it was simply not enough.

Jamaica missed only one shot from 52 attempts during the final.

Gretel Bueta led the scoring for the Commonwealth champions, shooting a perfect 37 goals from 37 attempts. Cara Koenen was also perfect scoring 15 goals from 15 attempts.

The Sunshine Girls will leave Birmingham with a silver medal their highest ever placing at the Commonwealth Games.

Jamaica's women 4x400m relay team got an unexpected surprise in the final track event at the Commonwealth Games on Sunday when England's team that crossed the line first in 3:25.83 was disqualified for a lane infringement. They have subsequently filed an appeal.

This means Jamaica's team comprised of 400m hurdles silver medallist Shian Salmon, Junelle Bromfield, Roneisha McGregor and Natoya Goule that ran 3:26.93 will leave Birmingham as 4x400m runners-up.

The development also means Canada has now been crowned 2022 Commonwealth Games champions. They had finished second in 3:25.84. Scotland finished fourth in a season-best of 3:30.15 but has been upgraded to the bronze medal.

Trinidad and Tobago won its third gold medal at the 2022 Commonwealth Games on Sunday when Jereem Richards led them to an emphatic victory in the 4x400m.

Kerrica Hill set a new championship record as Jamaica pulled off a 1-2 finish on the final day of the 2022 World Athletics U20 Championships in Cali, Colombia on Saturday, August 6.

On a day when Jamaica celebrated the 60^th anniversary of its independence, Hill, the gold-medal favourite uncorked a blistering time of 12.77 to fulfil expectations.

It was her second gold medal of the World U20 Championships as she was a member of Jamaica's 4x100m team that set a world record 42.59 on Friday night.

Her compatriot Alexis James was also impressive securing the silver medal in a new personal best of 12.87. It was her third lifetime best in a matter of days. She ran 13.04 in the heats and 12.94s in the semi-finals.

Hungary’s Hannah Toth ran a national U20 record of 13.00 for the bronze medal.

Jamaica won two more medals on the final day following silver medal runs in the 4x400m relays.

The team of Dejanea Oakley, Abigail Campbell, Oneika McAnuff and Alliah Baker ran a season-best 3:31.59 to finish second to the USA who ran 3:28.06 for the gold medal.

Great Britain (3:31.86) took the bronze.

Jamaica’s men aided by an outstanding anchor leg from Delano Kennedy, powered their way into a podium spot in 3:05.72, finishing behind the USA, who won in a season-best 3:04.47.

Shemar Palmer, Shaemar Uter and Jasauna Dennis were the other members of the team.

Canada finished third in a national U20 record of 3:06.50.

Kennedy was fifth on the final handover and surged past the field to win Jamaica a national record 16^th medal of the championships, the most by any team in Cali.

It was the highest number of medals ever won by Jamaica at the World U20 Championships topping the 12 medals won at the 2018 championships in Tampere, Finland.

Jamaica won six gold, seven silver and three bronze medals at the championships, one more than the United States, whose 4x400m victories saw them win seven gold, four silver and four bronze medals.

Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica won sprint relay medals on Sunday with silver and bronze medals, respectively, at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England.

Despite the absence of 200m champion Jereem Richards Trinidad and Tobago’s team of Jerod Elcock, Eric Harrison Jr, Kion Benjamin Hislop and Kyle Greaux raced to a season-best 38.70 to claim second place behind England that ran a season-best 38.35 for the gold medal.

Nigeria ran 38.81 for the bronze.

Meanwhile, Jamaica’s women owe a debt of gratitude to sprint-double champion Elaine Thompson-Herah for their bronze medal as Kemba Nelson, Remona Burchell and Natalliah Whyte were unable to put Jamaica in contention for a medal over the first three legs.

However, at the final exchange with Jamaica in fifth, the fastest woman alive, stormed down the home stretch to snatch the bronze medal from Australia.

Jamaica clocked a relatively pedestrian 43.08, well behind England who ran a season-best 42.41 for the silver and winners Nigeria, who stormed to a new area record of 42.10.

Australia clocked 43.16 for fourth.

Sada Williams created history on Sunday when she became the first Barbadian woman to win a gold medal in the 400m on the penultimate day of the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England.

Jamaica’s Jaydon Hibbert established a new championship record on his very first jump on his way to winning gold in the triple jump on Friday’s penultimate day of the World Athletics U20 Championships in Cali, Colombia.

The 17-year-old Hibbert, who is headed to the University of Arkansas in the Fall, produced a winning jump of 17.27m to improve upon the silver medal he won in Nairobi, Kenya in 2021.

He broke the record of 17.15m set in 2018 by Cuba’s Jordan Diaz Fortun. It also moved the Jamaican to number two all-time at the U20 level behind Fortun’s 17.41m and was only two centimetres shy of fellow Jamaican’s James Beckford national U20 record of 17.29m set in 1994.

India’s Selva P. Thirumaran copped the silver medal with his best jump of 16.15m while Estonia’s Viktor Morozov leapt out to 16.13m to claim the bronze medal.

Hibbert would have also won the competition with his second jump of 16.82m.

Jamaica also claimed gold in the high jump as Brandon Pottinger cleared 2.14m to win the high jump over  Brian Raats of South Africa and Bulgaria's Bozhidar Saraboyukov, who each cleared 2.10m.

Meanwhile, Roshawn Clarke was denied a possible gold medal in the 400m hurdles but finished third.

Battling down the home stretch with eventual winner Ismail Nezir of Turkey, Clarke hit the ninth hurdle and lost his momentum as Nezir surged past him on his way to victory in a national U20 record of 48.84.

Clarke’s mishap also allowed Matic Ian Gucek to get by him to claim silver in 48.91, also a national U20 record. The Jamaican finished in 49.62.

At the end of competition on Friday, Jamaica have won 12 medals – five gold, four silver and three bronze. Only the USA, with 13 medals (five gold, four silver and four bronze), has more.

Jamaica’s Sunshine Girls rallied from a six-point fourth-quarter deficit to stun three-time gold-medallists Australia to top Pool A at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham on Thursday.

In the intense battle between the unbeaten top two teams in the pool, Jamaica led by Jhanielle Fowler’s 47 goals from 50 attempts and Shanice Beckford’s perfect 10 from 10, outscored the Diamonds 17-9 to pull off their first victory over the three-time champions at the Commonwealth Games.

Australia enjoyed a slim one-goal lead at the end of the first quarter 14-13 but as Jamaica gained confidence they matched the Australian’s 16-16 to remain one goal down at the half-time break.

The experienced Australians surged to a five-goal lead in the third quarter, winning the stanza 16-11 before the Jamaicans, the only team to score 100 goals in a match at this year’s Games, turned the game on its head with a 17-9 score-line to get a famous victory. Jamaica levelled the score with eight minutes to go before taking the lead for good with four minutes left to play.

Australia’s Gretel Bueta led the Diamonds’ scoring with 36 goals from 39 attempts while Steph Wood scored 19 goals from 22 tries in the losing cause.

Tina Clayton set a new championship record on the way to defending her 10m title and winning Jamaica's first gold medal at the 2022 World U20 Championships in Cali, Colombia on Wednesday.

Clayton ran a lifetime best and new national U20 record of 10.95 to claim gold ahead of teammate and schoolmate Serena Cole who clocked 11.14 for the silver medal. American Shanti Jackson ran a personal best 11.15 for the bronze medal.

Clayton won her first U20 title in Nairobi, Kenya in 2019.

Earlier, Brian Level advanced to the finals of the men’s 200m. Level won his heat in a new lifetime best of 20.34.

In the final, he will face the 100m champion Letsile Tebogo of Namibia, who set a WorldU20 record of 9.91 in the final of the 100m on Wednesday. Jamaica’s Bouwahgjie Nkrumie ran a new national U20 record of 10.02 for the silver medal.

Jamaica has won five medals so far at these championships.

There was a surprise winner in the 110m hurdles with Bahamas’ Antoine Andrews taking the gold in a World U20 leading 13.23.

He capitalized massively after gold medal favourite Matthew Sophia crashed into the final hurdle and stumbled across the line in third in 13.34, having to take solace in the fact that he set a national U20 record.

The USA’s Malik Mixon clocked a personal best of 13.27 for the silver medal.

Trinidad and Tobago’s Nicholas Paul won the bronze medal in the 1000m time trial on Monday at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.

Briana Williams has opted not to travel to Birmingham, England to compete at the Commonwealth Games as her flight will only get her into the United Kingdom on Tuesday morning, the same day track and field action begins at the 2022 Games.

Following the decision of Shericka Jackson, Natasha Morrison and Stephenie-Ann McPherson to withdraw from the Jamaican contingent, the Jamaica Athletic Administrative Association (JAAA) sought clearance from the Commonwealth Games Federation to bring Williams in to compete in the 100m.

However, by the time the GCF gave that clearance, it proved challenging to get a flight out from the United States that would get the Jamaican sprinter into the UK on time.

A disappointed Williams made the announcement on social media on Monday.

“Unfortunately, I won't be able to attend the Commonwealth Games. The race is tomorrow (Tuesday) and I would’ve be getting in extremely late,” she said.

“Thanks to those who helped to try to speed up the process. Really wish I could have been there. Good luck to all the athletes competing.”

The 20-year-old Williams ran 10.94 to finish fourth at the Jamaica National Championships in June. She was a member of the island’s sprint relay squad that won the silver medal at the 2022 World Athletics Championships that concluded at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon on July 24.

Jamaica’s Sunshine Girls crushed their Caribbean rivals Barbados Gems 103-24 to go 3-0 in their 2022 Commonwealth Games campaign on Monday.

Fresh off his gold medal performance in the keirin on Saturday, Nicholas Paul picked up his second medal at the 2022 Commonwealth Games on Sunday when he won silver in the Men’s Sprint finals.

On a high from their 15-run victory over Pakistan on Friday, Barbados came crashing back down to earth on Sunday when they lost nine wickets with 71 balls to spare to Australia’s women at the Commonwealth Games.

Needing 65 to win from 20 overs, Meg Lanning scored an unbeaten 36 from 21 balls and Alyssa Healy 23 from 24 balls to propel Australia to 68-1 in just 8.1 overs.

The pair shared in a second-wicket partnership of 63 after Australia had lost the wicket of Beth Mooney for two in the second over.

Shanika Bruce was the lone wicket-taker for Barbados. She took 1-7 from the two overs she bowled.

Australia won the toss and sent Barbados to bat on a grassy pitch that held no terrors. Openers Deandra Dottin and Captain Hayley Matthews got the Caribbean representatives off to a good start getting to 20 inside four overs.

However, it all began to go wrong with the fifth ball of the fourth over bowled by Darcie Brown. Matthews had punished the bowler with two boundaries before getting out to an injudicious shot for 18.

She was the only batter to get into double figures as Deandra Dottin went for eight as Barbados slipped to 37 for 2. Shortly thereafter Kycia Knight was out for nine pulling Tahlia McGrath down to backward square where Megan Schutt held onto an easy catch and leave Barbados in serious trouble on 39-3 in the ninth over.

Barbados lost their last seven wickets for just 25 runs courtesy of Alana King who took 4-8 and McGrath 3-13. Ashleigh Gardener chipped in with a haul of 2-6 from her four overs as the batters fell like nine pins.

Shericka Jackson is down to compete at the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Silesia, Poland in Silesia, Poland on August 6. Jackson, the 200m gold medallist at the 2022 World Championships of Athletics in Eugene, Oregon has been confirmed for the meet that will also see her compatriot Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce on the entry lists.

Sportsmax.TV reported on Thursday that Jackson had withdrawn from Jamaica’s team to the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England where track and field is scheduled to get going on August 2.

Jackson heads to Poland in record-breaking form after she ran the second fastest time ever to claim gold in the women's 200m in Eugene. She is currently second in the qualification rankings and could secure her place in the Zurich final with a win at the Silesia Stadium.

She will be up against 400m world champion Shaunae Miller-Uibo, who will be hoping to break into the 200m top-eight with a big point haul as she begins to shift her focus away from the one-lap event.