Jah-Nhai Perinchief’s bold quest for a gold medal at the Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing, China, ended in disappointment this morning when he finished eighth in the long jump final.

But there was joy for Kyrah Sctraders, who rescued her Games with victory in the 800 metres B final, while the wait goes on for sailor Cecilia Wollmann after another day when the winds, rather the lack thereof, refused to change to allow racing.

Perinchief, the 16-year-old CedarBridge Academy student, had such high expectations after a career-best clearance of 2.10 metres in the qualifying round on Wednesday, but the final proved a leap too far and he could muster only the one clean jump before becoming the first of the finalists to take his leave of the competition.

The early signs were that this could be a momentous day for the young Bermudian, after he sailed over the opening height of 2.00 metres. But, in excessively hot conditions that chef de mission Katura Horton-Perinchief was quick to remind were the same for everyone, Perinchief’s performance was a stifled one and three misses at 2.04 ended his Olympic journey.

“He went to the track feeling confident and his energy was good,” Horton-Perinchief said. “It just wasn’t his day. But eighth place in the Youth Olympics is nothing to shrug at.”

Danil Lysenko, of Russia, who has a personal best of 2.24, was an unsurprising winner with a gold-medal jump of 2.20. The 17-year-old’s first failure at the Games came at 2.16, but he negotiated that and then sailed over the winning height at the first attempt before three misses at 2.25 once the competition was put to bed.

Three athletes finished level on 2.14 to be separated by countback, with the silver medal going to Yuji Hiramatsu, of Japan, and Shemaiah James, of Australia, taking the bronze.

Rohaan Simons, Perinchief’s coach, believes that it was too much to ask of his young star to give maximum performance in such short order. “I think he maxed out on the first day because he is not accustomed to jumping to the max two days later,” Simons said. “But he is among the world’s elite and I couldn’t be more proud of him. He qualified third in the qualifying round and, this late in the season, I couldn’t have asked for more.”

Perinchief, while a little down at not getting anywhere his new personal best, likewise had no regrets. “I was ecstatic after I jumped my PB on the first day; I didn’t even notice the crowd,” he said. “Tonight I was a little more nervous, but I definitely felt better physically than the first day.

“My run-up felt a little off tonight, so I need to go back to the drawing board and work a little harder at being consistent with the approach. Overall, though, I am pleased with my showing and I am happy to have represented Bermuda well on the world stage.”

About an hour earlier, Scraders put behind her the disappointment of failing to make the 800 metres final by winning the B final in a season’s best time.

Scraders, who was put into what was effectively one of two consolation races, showed her true capabilities after getting her tactics wrong in the heats. On that occasion, she took up the running after a sluggish pace set by her rivals and ultimately paid the price in finishing third in 2min 11.27sec.

But today, according to Horton-Perinchief, “she ran the race she should have run two days ago” en route to breaking the tape first in 2:10.66, leaving her almost half a second clear of Celia Anton Alonso, the runner-up from Spain.

Horton-Perinchief added: “She was smart and technically sound. We are very pleased with her finish.”

Scraders’s time was bettered by each of the eight runners in the final that took place minutes later — the new champion clocked 2:04.90 — but that higher level of competition no doubt is where Bermuda’s golden girl of the track would have preferred to be.

Scraders, too, was much happier with her second run in the Nanjing OSC Stadium. “I took the advice of my coach and ran my last 300 metres as quickly as I could,” Scraders said. “The first race was tough because I was leading the whole time; it’s hard to do that.

“My coach, Jarita Vickers, sent me instruction to just push through the last 300, so that’s what I did and it worked!”

The day began with more frustration for Wollmann, Bermuda’s lone sailor in the Byte CII class, who for the second day in succession had to wait for hours on shore at Jinniu Lake for suitable wind conditions that would never materialise.

But at least, unlike on Friday when three races were cancelled for lack of wind, there is a reserve day set aside for tomorrow for the medal race.

Wollmann is in ninth place on 59 points, still terribly handicapped by a non-discardable disqualification in the second race on Monday. But for that slip-up, the Royal Hamilton Amateur Dinghy Club sailor would be in bronze-medal position today.

As it stands, that coveted place is held by Carolina Albano, of Italy, on 44 points and the flicker of hope that remains for Wollmann is that, with the final race counting double, a top-three finish may be enough.

If the winds stay away, the existing standings will count as final, but the forecast calls for rain tomorrow and that may be enough for Wollmann’s fate to be determined as she and Team Bermuda would want — on the water.