The 19th Central American and Caribbean Junior Championships were held in the Estadio Jorge "Mágico" González in San Salvador, El Salvador, between 29 June and 1 July 2012. The event was open for athletes from the invited countries, that are members of the Central American and Caribbean Athletic Confederation (CACAC), in two categories (newly defined in 2012): Junior A Category: 18 to 19 years as of 31 December 2012 (born either 1993 or 1994), and Junior B Category: 14 to 17 years as of 31 December 2012 (born in 1995, 1996, 1997, or 1998). By IAAF standards, Junior A is equal to Junior, while Junior B is equal to Youth.
There were numerous changes as compared to the last competition held in
2010:
The 17-year-old athletes competed in the Junior B category (rather than Junior
A). 2000 metres steeplechase was replaced by 3000 metres steeplechase in the
female Junior A category. 110 metres hurdles replaced 100 metres hurdles, and
10,000 metres racewalk replaced 5000 metres racewalk in the male Junior B
category. And finally, in the female Junior B category, 3000 metres, 2000
metres steeplechase, pole vault, and hammer throw (3 kg) were held for the
first time, while 1500 metres replaced 1200 metres, 400 metres hurdles
replaced 300 metres hurdles, 5000 metres racewalk replaced 4000 metres
racewalk, and new implements for shot put (3 kg rather than 4 kg) and javelin
(500 g rather 600 g) were used.
In the Junior A category, a lot of athletes were preparing for the 14th World Junior Championships in Barcelona, Spain on 10–15 July 2012.
A detailed discussion of the results was given elsewhere.
