Jamaica has a history of uncovering sprint stars and looks to have another on its hands in Odane Skeen, who claimed the 100m title at the inaugural Youth Olympics.

Skeen powered over the line in a personal best 10.42 seconds, ahead of Japan’s Masaki Nashimoto and Britain’s David Bolarinwa.

His mark is well short of fellow Jamaican Usain Bolt’s world record of 9.58sec, but Skeen is still just 15 years old.

He is following in the footsteps of not just Bolt, but also former world record holder Asafa Powell, another Jamaican sprint king.

In the women’s 100m, Nigeria’s Josephine Omaka ran powerfully to win in 11.58sec ahead of Myasia Jacobs of the United States and Fany Chalas of the Dominican Republic.

The Youth Olympics, which run from August 14 to 26, are being held for the first time and feature 3,600 athletes aged 14-to-18 competing in the 26 Olympic sports.

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