Competing in Santiago de Cali in Colombia, O'Keefe, a St Patrick's College student qualified for the high jump final with a jump of 2.04m.

In what is looming as an incredibly even competition, O'Keefe officially qualified 12^th for the final of 12 competitors, but his jump was just 4cm off the highest recorded, which was jumped by nine competitors.

The 2.08m top qualifier is still 7cm below O'Keefe's best which he jumped earlier this season, so there should be plenty in the tank for the talented Ballarat 17-year-old.

O'Keefe's age also means he still has another World Junior Championship ahead of him in two years time, so making the final against athletes up to two years older than him is already an incredible achievement.

The high jump final will be contested from 6.20am on Saturday morning Australian time.

Sherman, also a St Patrick's student had a goal to make the semi-final of the 400m and did just that with a personal best time of 47.16 seconds, seeing him through as the 22^nd of 24 qualifiers.

Sherman competed in heat two of the five heats, which turned out to be the quickest of all the heats. He finished sixth in the race behind South African fastest qualifier Luthe Pillay who won in a season's best time of 46.02 seconds.

The pace of the heat though meant Sherman qualified for the semis as the fastest non-automatic entrant. He will now focus on breaking 47 seconds for the first time in the semi-final which will be held on

Sherman's 400m semi final will be held from 8.25am on Thursday morning Australian time with the final to be run on Friday morning at 8.50am.

The other Ballarat-based athlete Alanna Peart, will compete in the 10km race walk which will be raced from 11.30pm on Friday night, Australian time.

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