Williams’ swift return to top form

Tokoroa golden girl Monique Williams excels at games.

Williams made it a 100m-200m double with her second close finish in three days to win the 200m final in 24.50s running into a fierce head wind, just holding off her Waikato-bay of Plenty team-mate Kristie Baillie, who is also coached by Williams’ Tokoroa-based father, Chris.

Williams has been plagued by injuries since coming 12th in the 200m at the 2009 world championships where she became the first Kiwi woman to break 23 seconds for the distance. Most recently she has had leg problems, specifically a plantar fascia problem in her foot rather than a return of her previous achilles tendon strain.

Williams, who must run 23 sec again to qualify for London, has been back on a daily training schedule for only a week and was concerned about her lack of speed endurance going into the 200.

‘‘ I knew Kristie was in good form, especially with her win in the 400 yesterday, and to hold her off was a very good start to my season. With minus two or three wind, or whatever it was, that’s not a bad time actually and on one full week’s training I’ve got to be confident [about qualifying],’’ Williams said.

She now heads to the New South Wales championships in Sydney this weekend, followed by the Australian nationals a fortnight later, then back to Britain for the European season and a crack at the 200m qualifying time.

‘‘I always was confident I could do it ... just a matter of cementing it in my mind . . . it’s a good sign.’’