Track Phenom Briana Williams Nominated For Prestigious Laureus World Sports Award

By Todd Grasley for DyeStat

Briana Williams became a global name when she struck gold twice at the IAAF World U-20 Championships last summer in Finland.

At only 16 years old, Williams, who competes for Jamaica and calls Florida home, became the youngest athlete ever to pull off the 100/200 sprint double in the meet’s history.

Her time of 11.16 in the 100 meters was just shy of her personal-best 11.13 set at the Bob Hayes Invitational. Her 22.50 in the 200 was a massive best, her first performance in that event under 23 seconds.

In light of those achievements, Williams was nominated for “Breakthrough of the Year” at the Laureus World Sports Awards, which will be held Feb. 18 in Monaco.

“Numbers don’t lie,” her coach and Trinidad and Tobago Olympian Ato Boldon said. “Twenty-two fifty into a headwind and 11.16 with no wind as a high school sophomore is one thing, but beating the world’s best 19-year olds just after you turn 16 is another. That meet has produced many of today’s current stars, so to leave there as the youngest to do that sprint double and the championship record holder in the 200, is special. Track is about competition first, times are secondary.”

Williams competed in 2018 for Northeast (Orland Park) FL and had memorable state championship finals races against Gainesville FL freshman Tamari Davis. Williams won the Class 3A 100 meters title and finished second in the 200. 

Past winners of the Breakthrough Award include a who’s who of notable athletes, such as Yao Ming, Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray and Jordan Spieth. This year’s field of nominees includes Spaniard Ana Carrasco, the first woman to win a world championship in solo motorcycle road racing; Naomi Osaka, who beat Serena Williams at Wimbledon to claim Japan’s first ever Grand Slam title; teenage distance runner Jakob Ingebrigsten of Norway, who won the European Championships in both the 1,500 and 3,000 meters; Italian Sofia Goggia, who won the gold medal in downhill at the 2018 Winter Olympics; and and Tour de France winner Geraint Thomas.

“It means a lot to be nominated for this amazing award,” Williams said. “Seeing who is in my category is very exciting, because I know some of them, and they had a terrific year in their sport. It’s great to know a lot of celebrities won in the past.”

Boldon added: “Being nominated is immense. Only three track and field athletes will be there, and she's the youngest Jamaican to ever attend. I know how she thinks. This is the kind of thing that makes her come back home and work harder. I think all great sprinters want the spotlight, and she's prepared to do the work to stay in the spotlight.”

While only a handful of Jamaicans have been nominated in the awards’ 19-year history, none can boast of doing so at Williams’ age. Only eight-time track and field gold medalist Usain Bolt has ever won it. Bolt nabbed the Sportsman of the Year award in 2009, 2010, 2013, and most recently in 2017.

As 2019 gets underway, Williams has her eyes set on high school records, followed by more World Championship gold, this time in Doha, Qatar in the senior meet, at the end of September.

“We will take some strategic shots at both high school sprint records, including going to altitude in Mexico in the summer for the NACAC meet, which is at high altitude,” Boldon said. "The existing Allyson Felix 200 meters high school record is at high altitude in Mexico City.”

Felix, who attended L.A. Baptist in North Hills, Calif., ran 22.11 at Mexico City in 2003. 

Qualifying to compete in Doha remains the No. 1 goal for 2018.

“My goal this year is just to make the World Championship team to go to Doha, hopefully in an individual event,” Williams said.