Taylor makes big statement in Cayman

Jamaica's top junior sprinter Christopher Taylor said Saturday's victory in the men's 400 metres at the Cayman Invitational track and field meet is a major boost for him ahead of this year's World Under-20 Championships, which will be held in Tampere, Finland, next month.

The 18-year-old Taylor turned in a brilliant performance to capture the event in a new personal best time of 45.24 seconds beating the 45.27 he ran in 2015 at the World Youth Championships in Cali, Colombia. Chidi Okezie of Nigeria was second in 45.65, while Jamaica's Javon Francis was third in 46.06.

Taylor has been in good form this season and turned back American 400m star, LaShawn Merritt, to win the men's 200m in 20.49 seconds at last month's Jamaica International Invitational meet.

He told STAR Sports that he was very happy with his performance and it will lift his confidence ahead of the July World Under-20 Championships.

"I am feeling very proud to know that I came out here looking to run a personal best and I did that," the Calabar High School star said.

"It was my first 400m since February and coach told me to just go out there and get out the first 30m and even if they close on me keep my form and stay tall in the stretch and I did that and won the race. I have a big championships coming up in July and so this motivates me," he said.

Taylor admitted that he was a bit surprised with the time.

" ... Even though I haven't been on the 400m programme because of the niggling (injuries) that I have been having, I was still able to come out and run a personal best and so this is a big confidence booster," Taylor noted.