Russell, 15, took the bronze medal in the girls' 100-metre dash in 11.42 seconds after a clustered finish at the end. Both Russell and American Gabby Mayo crossed the finish line at the same time, but the American was awarded the silver after a photofinish reading.

Bulgarian junior sprint star Tezdzhan Naimova, who reached the semi-finals in the 60m at this year's World Indoor Championships in Moscow won the gold medal in 11.28 with a hard closing run towards the line.

Strong finish gives Blake a bronze

Jamaica and the Caribbean snatched another bronze medal in the boys' race when Blake outran fellow Jamaican and defending bronze medallist Remaldo Rose for third.

Entering the meeting with a personal best time of 10.33sec, the World Youth Championships finallist from Marrakech a-year-ago, finished strongly from lane six to win the bronze at the World juniors a year later with a time of 10.42. He was beaten by two strong runs from World Youth sprint double champion Harry Aikines-Aryeetey (10.37) of Great Britain and Canada's Justyn Warner (10.39).

Rose was not too far behind in fourth with a time of 10.43. Trinidad and Tobago's World Youth bronze medallist Keston Bledman finished seventh in 10.47.

Sutherland looks like the one to beat - Quow leads the regional trio

It was a good day also for the Caribbean in the 400m as all the entries in the semis moved on to the next stage to challenge for a medal.

Sutherland of Jamaica continued to show that she will be the athlete to beat when she commandingly won her semi-final with a super run, which was all wrapped up after 150m. The defending silver medallist from Grosseto blew by her competitors with ease and was all on her own after 200m.

Sutherland shut things down in the home straight to cruise to the finish line in the fastest time of the day, at 51.67sec.

In the male category, Trinidad and Tobago's Renny Quow won his heat in 46.18 over a fast-finishing Justin Oliver, who came home in 46.22. Allodin Fothergill of Jamaica held on for third place in heat one with a time of 46.68. His teammate Edino Steele, who found himself at the back at half-way mark managed to dig in deep to finish strongly and take third in the third and final semis in 46.55.

Gonzalez still going

Cuban Andy Gonzalez eased into the boys' 800m after finishing second in his semi-final heat in a time of 1:48.85. He, however, will have to improve on that timing if he's thinking about stepping on the podium. Kenya's David Lekuta Rudisha was the fastest qualifier heading into the finals with a time of 1:47.24 as six of the eight qualifiers went below 1:48.

Spencer, Pinnock in 400m hurdles finals – Garcia leads multi-event

In other results on the day, Jamaican Kaliese Spencer and team mate Sherene Pinnock both made it through to the finals of the female 400m hurdles, the third to last race on the second day.

Spencer clocked 56.11, the second quickest in the semis to win her heat over Sudan's multi-athlete Muna Jabir Adam (56.55). American pre-race favourite Nicole Leach was the fastest performer in the event, following a winning performance in the opening heat, at 56.10. Pinnock finished second behind her in 57.11.

"I have been to the championships before and I know what the competition is like, so I expect to improve on the bronze medal from 2004," said Pinnock.

In the Decathlon standings Cuban World Youth champion Yordanis Garcia finished the day on top with 4202pts after five events. New Zealand's Jordan Vandermade (4180) and Russian Arkadiy Vasilyev (4109) are in second and third.