Laurie Foster | Briana Williams is one to watch in 2020

Foster’s Fairplay, as guided by a self-imposed policy to keep a close track on the nation’s athletes, has been monitoring the progress of the country’s young and awesome talent, Briana Williams. After several promises of a high calibre of performance under the coaching tutelage of former World 200 metres champion, the Trinidadian Ato Boldon, she first distinguished herself at the regional level, taking the Austin Sealy Award for outstanding showing at the 2018 Carifta Games, a feat she repeated in 2019.

The most prestigious platform on which her mushrooming class has been displayed was the 2018 World Under-20 Championships of Athletics in Tampere, Finland. At the tender age of 16, she was crowned champion in both the 100m and 200m, each time getting the better of athletes from the USA who came to the event boasting better times than the Jamaican youngster, who first saw the light of day in the country where they were born. She has the world’s best time over the 100m for a 15-year-old and is the Jamaican junior record holder at that distance, as well as the 200m with times of 11.02 and 22.50 respectively.

As Briana’s country of birth is mentioned, it should be remembered that her choice of which nation to represent was not without controversy. To be born and raised in Jamaica and then elect to run for the so-called “land of greater opportunity” is no rarity. It was the route taken by USA’s World and Olympic champion, Sanya Richards, and quite a few more. It is reported that some close friends of Briana urged her to consider the USA as it would be a more rewarding experience. Happily for local track and field supporters, she was allowed by her adoring mother, Sharon Simpson, and the young lady who was later to be nominated for the IAAF Rising Star and the Laureus Breakthrough of the Year Awards chose the land of Bob Marley and the Reggae Boyz.

MORE TO COME

There was more to come for the young phenom, as coach Boldon turned her sights on the World Championships to held in Doha, Qatar, last year. She was now in big woman territory so with that in mind, Boldon said that she would not defend her Tampere titles at the next staging of the Under-20s to be held later this year in Nairobi, Kenya. She ran at the Doha Trials and qualified to run the 100m at the big stage by placing third behind the greats, Elaine Thompson and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce in a new personal best of 10.94. She did not face the starter for the 200m, as she was said to be suffering from symptoms of influenza.

Then came a setback, as she tested positive for the banned diuretic, hydrochlorothiazide, and faced a disciplinary hearing. She escaped a period of ineligibility but logistics prevented her participation in Doha. She elected to travel but only as a spectator.

With coach Boldon mandating that she would in future compete only with adults, the course for this year is leading to the Tokyo Olympics. There was a possibility that she would have appeared at the World Indoor Championships to be held in Nanjing, China, especially after a 7.15 clocking outdoors in the 60m at the Queen’s Grace Jackson Invitational, but the postponement of that event due to health concerns surrounding the spreading coronavirus has ruled that out.

With all this mind and Briana having signed a professional contract with global brand, Nike, the track and field world is holding on with bated breath to witness what this athlete of supreme talent will display. Under the watchful eye of Boldon, she is expected to better her 10.94 which has been rendered null and void because of the drug violation. There should be no doubt that her gifts will continue to be demonstrated on the tracks of the world as the country continues to show off the brilliance of its sprinters for the benefit of an audience which has come to expect no less from them.

Just remember, people, that this young miss will only be 18 years old in March of this year, and thus still eligible for competition as a junior in 2021.

What a talent!

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