Williams-Mills aims for top three
FIVE-TIME WORLD Championship 400 metres finalist Novlene Williams-Mills isn’t looking back at any of her eight national titles this week. Instead, she is fully focused on a top-three finish at the National Senior Championships.
Speaking after a short workout inside the National Stadium yesterday, she said it is still a pleasure to run in Jamaica.
Williams-Mills announced her plan to retire at the end of this season, but that is playing second fiddle to making the Jamaican 400-metre team for the World Championships in London.
“I don’t want to be the focus of, OK, this is going to be her last race here,” she said. “Every time I come here, I think, I always come here to do my best,” she clarified, “and it’s always about being in the top three, you know, making that individual 400m, and this time isn’t going to be any different.”
Though she was an individual Olympic finalist in 2008 and 2012, she had to be content last year with a fourth-place finish behind Stephenie McPherson, Christine Day and eventual Olympic bronze medal winner Shericka Jackson.
“It hurt a little bit,” she reflected after her workout was complete, “because, I think, for the longest time, that’s been the first time I was not in the flat 400m, but, for me, I always say everything is for a reason and there were three great ladies who represented Jamaica in the 400m and I can’t take anything away from them.”
“They did a great job”, she continued, “but this year, I want to be one of those ladies that’s gonna be in the starting blocks representing Jamaica.”
The 35-year-old Williams, bronze medallist in 2007 and a close fourth in 2009, is the second-fastest Jamaican 400m runner of 2017.
The fastest is Chris-Ann Gordon at 50.39 seconds.