Jamaican 400m specialist Stacey-Ann Williams has broken her silence on why she made the bold decision to join Hurdles Mechanics in Arkansas. Williams made the move earlier this year from Elite Performance where she had trained under the guidance of Renaldo Walcott following her graduation from the University of Texas in Austin in 2022.

The move, which marks a significant departure from her comfort zone in Jamaica, is driven by Williams' desire to surround herself with a supportive and focused environment that caters to her individual needs. "My sole aim was to make a choice on where to train that would be best for me career-wise," she explained. "I wanted to choose somewhere that caters to my event and my training style, as I'm hoping to elevate my performance in the 400m in any way that I can."

Williams' decision to join Hurdles Mechanics is expected to provide her with the ideal platform to hone her skills and gain a competitive edge. The training group, renowned for its expertise in sprint events, boasts a talented roster of athletes, including Nickisha Pryce, Jamaica's national record holder in the 400m, Ackera Nugent, the 2024 world leader in the 100m hurdles and several other elite athletes.

For Williams, the opportunity to train alongside athletes who share her event speciality has been a game-changer. "I feel like the difference in training style in this group and the group that I had back home is that now I have people to train with who also run my event," she said. "As a result, I have other runners who can relate to what I need to get done in training or have similar goals and experiences in the event."

As she settles into her new routine, Williams has set her sights on a major breakthrough, dipping below her personal best of 50.00 seconds in the 400m set in September 2024. "Different to the environment, my expectation of myself is pretty much constant in that there are times that I would've hoped to run over the past couple of years that I'm yet to run," she said. "So, obviously, my first goal before anything else would be to dip below 50 seconds, running 49.50 and better."

With the World Championships set for September in Tokyo, Japan, Williams is taking a measured approach to the season. "The main focus right now is preparation," she emphasized.

Williams is expected to test her skills at several high-profile events in the coming months, including the New York Grand Prix, the LA Grand Prix, and the Racers Grand Prix. These competitions, she believes, will provide valuable opportunities for her to gauge her progress and fine-tune her performance first ahead of the Jamaica National Championships and ultimately the World Championships where she will likely face the formidable talents of reigning World and Olympic champion Marileidy Paulino and Bahrain's Salwa Eid Naser, the silver medalist in Paris last year and the third-fastest woman of all time.