TAMPERE, Finland – Briana Williams will make the quick turnaround in her search of winning the World U20 Championships sprint double when she lines up in the women’s 200m heats on Friday.
On Thursday’s Day 3, Williams accomplished the first part of the assignment when she won the women’s 100m title and the Jamaican will be hoping to recover in time to challenge for her first major championship sprint double.
Williams became the first Jamaican woman, since Veronica Campbell-Brown in 2000, to the World U20 100m gold medal and she did so quite impressively.
The Ato Boldon-coach athlete used a bullet start to put the entire field under pressure and then held off American pre-championship favourite Twanisha Terry to strike gold in 11.16 seconds.
“It feels amazing,” Williams said of winning performance. “I’ve been training for this race all season long.”
The 16-year-old Florida-based sprinter will start the short sprint double quest from lane four in Heat 3 of the women’s 200m on Friday where she will be hoping to navigate through the early round with as little effort as possible.
Lorraine Martins of Brazil and Germany’s Corinna Schwab are expected to be Williams’ closest rivals in the heat, but with the Top 4 from each heat going through, the Jamaican should have little worries progressing.
Lauren Rain Williams of the United States is the fastest entrant in the 200m with a time of 22.51.
She will start in Heat 4, while her countrywoman Jayla Kirkland (22.93) and Australia’s Riley Day (22.93) are also sub-23 seconds runners.