Jah-Nhai Perinchief is joint-top of the world under-20 high jump list with a best leap of 2.26 metres.

The 18-year-old set a personal best and new Bermuda junior record at the KT Woodman Classic at the Wichita University in Kansas in April, with a jump of 2.26 metres — just three centimetres shy of the Olympic standard.

He shares the lead with Ukraine’s Oleksandr Barannikov who cleared 2.26 in his most recent competition.

Barannikov, 19, who claimed a bronze medal at last year’s European Junior Championships, was also second at the senior Ukrainian Championships.

Bermuda does have a high jumping tradition, with Clarence “Nicky” Saunders holding the national record of 2.36 set in Auckland, New Zealand, at the 1990 Commonwealth Games.

Perinchief will look to nudge closer to Saunders’s record when he competes at the IAAF World Under-20 Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland, which starts tomorrow.

The best personal best in the field belongs to Japan’s Yuji Hiramatsu. The Youth Olympic silver-medal winner jumped 2.28 last year and went on to compete at the IAAF World Championships Beijing last year. His best this year is 2.22m.