Bermuda made it two medals in as many days across the opening weekend of the 50th Carifta Games in Bahamas after J’Auza James battled his way to bronze in the octathlon.

James’s medal came 24 hours after Kahzi Sealey led the charge when winning a silver medal in the men’s under-20 1,500 metres in a time of 4min 6.34sec.

That performance proved the highlight of Bermuda’s displays on the opening day of competition on Saturday, with his strong late finish just not enough to reel in Ainsley Campbell, of Jamaica, who won by less than a second in 4:05.54.

James was in action on the first two days, with the octathlon’s eight events split up into four each day and despite suffering mixed fortunes in the first seven events, including when picking up a slight injury in the high jump in the last event on Saturday, James still found himself in contention for a medal heading into the final race, the 1,500 metres.

There, the 17-year-old gave a gutsy performance, leading the way after the first lap before ultimately settling for second place behind Jermahd Huggins, of St Kitts & Nevis, who sealed victory in 4:30.39, slightly more than five seconds clear of the Bermudian.

Despite missing out on victory, the result proved enough to earn James a place on the final step of the podium behind gold medal-winner Courtney Williams, of Jamaica, and Lavar Deveaux, of the host nation.

While there was joy for Sealey and James, a number of Bermuda’s brightest young athletes may have been left disappointed after just finishing out of the medals across the weekend.

Among them, Jaeda Grant ran her heart out but finished in an agonising fourth place in the girls’ under-17 1,500 metres in 4:56.54, while Tajahri Rogers also finished just outside the podium places in fourth in the boys’ under-17 1,500.

There was also disappointment for the girls’ under-17 4x100 team who finished fourth in 48.12, just over two seconds outside of the medals. Jamaica took gold, ahead of Trinidad & Tobago, with Bahamas claiming bronze.

There is still hope for further medals heading into the final day of competition, including Elise Dickinson, who qualified for the under-17 200 metres final.