Simply THE BEST
Briana woos Tampere, Finland with sprint double
JAMAICA’S 16-YEAROLD sprint sensation Briana Williams underlined her status as the fastest teenager in the world as she set a Championship record of 22.50 seconds in the 200m at the IAAF World Under-20 Championships in Tampere, Finland, yesterday.
Already an unlikely winner of the 100m, Williams, who is coached by the 1997 world 200m champion and former world under20 100 and 200m gold medallist Ato Boldon, was not tipped to do as well in her secondary event as she had never bettered 23 seconds, and was up against a formidable American duo.
However, drawn in lane three, Williams had a marginal lead on the pre-race favourite, the United States’ Lauren Rain Williams, as they entered the straight.
Showing no signs of fatigue in her sixth race in four days, she then extended her lead in the second half of the race.
Rain Williams finished a distant second in 23.09 with Poland’s Martyna Kotwila taking bronze in a personal best of 23.21.
SIXTEEN-YEAR-OLD BRIANA Williams produced another brilliant run to complete the sprint double at the IAAF World Under-20 Championships in Tampere, Finland, yesterday.
Williams, in an impressive performance, clocked a championship record and personal best 22.50 seconds to add the 200 metres gold to the 100m title she won last Thursday.
Williams, who picked up one of two medals for Jamaica yesterday, was in impeccable form in the half-lap event. Drawn in lane three, behind favourite Lauren Rain Williams of the United States in lane four, Williams was again superb out of the blocks, covering the entire field easily as she had a five-metre lead coming off the curve. She then kept pulling away to register her first sub-23 seconds time. Rain Williams was second in 23.09 while Poland’s Maryna Kotwila was third in 23.21.
The quartet of Xavier Nairne, Christopher Taylor, Jhevaughn Matherson and Michael Stephens ran a national Under-20 record 38.96 seconds but were upstaged by the United States in the men’s sprint relay. The United States took gold in a world-leading 38.88 for their first win of the Championships. Germany were third in 39.22.
In another final yesterday, there was no luck for Leonardo Ledgister and Malik James King in the men’s 400m hurdles. Ledgister was fourth in a personal best 49.93 while James ran on very strong in the closing stages but had to settle for fifth in 50.25.
The top four finishers all went under 50 seconds, as last year’s World Under-18 champion, Sokwakhaba Zaino of South Africa, won in 49.42 ahead of Qatar’s Bassem Hemeida (49.59) and Alison Dos Santos of Brazil, 49.78. The second and third both ran personal best times.
In the women’s 100m hurdles semifinals, Britany Anderson advanced to the final but Amoi Brown was eliminated. Anderson, the World Under-18 champion, won her heat in a personal best 13.10 seconds. Brown was third in her heat in 13.52.
Discus thrower Kai Chang will be hoping for a medal after advancing to the men’s discus final. He topped Group B of the preliminary round with 59.27 metres, the fourth best overall.
The women’s 4x400m quartet of Janielle Josephs, Stacy Ann Williams, Colisha Taylor and Chrissani May won semi-final one in 3:34.22 to advance to today’s final as the second fastest behind the United States, who won their heat in a world-leading 3:33.11.
The men’s 4x400m team is out of the championships. They finished second in their heat behind Great Britain but were disqualified for a lane violation on the opening leg.