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Briana Williams establishes new national U20 record with plans to break it again in Jacksonville on Monday
Written by Leighton Levy. Posted in Athletics. | 30 May 2021 | 8637 Views
Tags: Athletics, Briana Williams, Duval County Challenge, Florida, Jac Summer Open

Briana Williams established a new national U20 100m record in Florida earlier today and said she plans to run faster tomorrow when she lines up against faster sprinters English Gardener, Veronica Campbell-Brown and Tynia Gaither at the Duval County Challenge in Jacksonville.

The 19-year-old Williams, who set a national U20 record when she ran 11.02 in New Mexico in June 2019, clocked 11.01 at the JAC Summer Open, running at what she said was about 95 per cent effort, as she was saving herself for Monday’s races.

If ratified, the time run with a trailing wind of 1.4m/s would eclipse her previous mark from 2019.

A fast time was always on the cards as in the preliminary round, the 2018 World U20 100m champion, cruised to a comfortable victory in 11.19.

“The first, the preliminary, was good; just working on my start, how low I am coming out of my drive phase, and then most importantly, high knees, don’t break form and just run to the line,” she said of her first run since she ran 11.09 and 11.15 at the Miramar South Florida Invitational on May 9.

She revealed that she was still not all out at her 11.01 run as this was the ‘semi-final’ before Monday’s races at Hodges Stadium in North Florida.

“I didn’t want to go all out, that’s for tomorrow. I was about 95 per cent,” she said. “Glad to have run 11.01 not trying too much but giving enough to where I could set a national junior record and it felt great. My form was great. I liked it.”

She said she was expecting tough competition on Monday but she wants to go out get a new personal best and finish healthy.