Johannesburg – South Africa's junior team will return home with two medals from the IAAF World Junior Championships in Barcelona.
The team, which failed to add any more medals to their small collection on Sunday's final day, secured two bronze medals courtesy of Gerhard de Beer in the discus and Morne Moolman in the javelin.
National senior champion in the women's 400 metres, Justine Palframan, showed her class by improving Myrtle Bothma's 19-year-old SA junior record.
Palframan, 18, improved Bothma's mark of 51.89 by 0.02 seconds, though she finished only fifth in the final.
Rising high jump star Julia du Plessis took 12th place in her debut at the global junior championships.
The 16-year-old qualified for the final with a confident 1.82m jump but it was not enough to bring her into contention for a place on the podium.
The women's 4x400m team, consisting of Palframan, Janet Seeliger, Ane Fourie and Stephanie Wicksell, posted a time of 3:40.31 to finish ninth in the final.
Lezaan Jordaan, 16, also performed admirably in the women's shot put, heaving three personal best distances in her progression from the qualifying rounds to the final.
The team, having finished 39th in the medals table, will arrive back in South Africa on Tuesday. – Sapa