Injuries almost drove hurdler Williams out of the sport

Danielle Williams is in the spotlight now following her stunning 100-metre hurdles victory at last month’s World Athletic Championships in Budapest, Hungary. However, injuries almost drove her out of the sport two years earlier. Now a two-time World Championships gold medallist, the Lennox Graham-coached hurdles queen praises her inner circle for keeping her on track.

Things came to a head in 2021.

“If you’re competing and you’re feeling pain, that takes away from what you need to do and then it kind of gives you the feeling like your body’s giving up on you. Like maybe you’re just past the time,” the 30-year-old Kingstonian told a BBC podcast aired on September 10.

According to the former Queen’s School and Johnson C. Smith University standout, the questions nibbled away at her confidence.

“Do I still have what it takes to compete at the highest level? That has been a question that I have faced since 2021, not making the Olympic team, and again, that was an injury-plagued year, and I started thinking my body is giving up on me, and do I still have what it takes to keep competing at the highest level?” she remembers asking herself.

She finished adrift of the top three at the 2021 National Championships and thought of retiring.

“Yes. Absolutely. Many times. 2021 Olympic season, not making the Olympic team, I definitely thought that, listen, I don’t think Olympics are in the cards for me anymore,” she confessed on the BBC podcast, The Warm-Up.

The niggles continued. “Last year, before World Championships actually, I had a back injury and then I caught COVID-19 ... like a week before the championships. Despite all that, we had a good championship. We made the final. We came sixth, and then going into the Commonwealth Games, we were looking to build on that. Then my very first practice back, I sprained my ankle and I had, like, four different ankle injuries. At this point, I think my ankles are made of glass,” said the 2022 Commonwealth Games finalist.

When asked why she stayed the course, she was crystal clear.

“My support system, my belief in God, that, you know, He is sovereign over all things. He is in control of all things and He’ll reward you when it’s the time, and if He doesn’t, you still have to find a way to be at peace with what you’re doing. And my support system, absolutely, I give them 100 per cent as this medal is theirs as well as it is mine,” she said gratefully, “Because they have kept me going throughout countless crying and giving up and ‘you can’t give up. There’s so much for you to give in this sport’, and so I give them all the glory.”

Williams is undefeated since Budapest and is expected to race in the Diamond League final September 16 and 17 in Eugene, Oregon.