FAYETTEVILLE, Arkansas (Feb 18) – Jamaican Olympic gold medalist Briana Williams is in line to open her 2026 indoor season at the Arkansas Qualifier at the Randal Tyson Track Center on Friday, marking her return to winter competition after sitting out the entire 2025 indoor campaign. (Follow Live Results Here)
Williams, who claimed gold as part of Jamaica’s 4×100 meters relay team at the Tokyo 2021 Olympics, is entered in the women’s 60m as she attempts to recapture the form that established her as one of the Caribbean’s premier sprinters.
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The 23-year-old former world junior champion last competed indoors at the 2024 World Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow, where she failed to advance past the semi-finals of the 60m dash. Williams holds a personal best of 7.04 seconds in the event, set in 2022.
That 2022 season also produced her 100m personal best of 10.94 seconds, one of six sub-11-second performances in her career. The 2018 World Junior sprint double champion will be seeking to return to that level as she builds toward the outdoor season.
Friday’s meet will also feature St. Vincent and the Grenadines’ Shafiqua Maloney in the women’s 800m. The Paris Olympic Games fourth-place finisher could challenge the meeting record of 2:01.71, set by Tabitha Ngao in 2025, after clocking 1:59.82 at the Tyson Invitational in Fayetteville on Feb. 14 in her only completed 800m race this season.
Ghana’s Benjamin Azamati headlines the men’s 60m field and will aim to improve on his recent performances of 6.61 and 6.63 seconds at the Wolf Pack Classic in Reno, Nevada.
Americans Rosey Effiong, the 2025 World Indoor champion with the USA 4x400m relay team, and Paris Peoples are both entered in the women’s 200m and 400m events.
The Arkansas Qualifier serves as the final regular-season meeting for several collegiate athletes before the 2026 SEC Indoor Championships in College Station, Texas, scheduled from Thursday, Feb. 26, through Saturday, Feb. 28.
