Ato Boldon

Bolt, who retired in 2017, dominated global athletics for a decade winning the 100/200m sprint double in an unprecedented three consecutive Olympic Games (2008, 2012 and 2016). He also won the sprint double at the 2009, 2013, and 2015 World Championships to go along with the 200m title he won in Daegu in 2011. Bolt's world records of 9.58 and 19.19 set in 2009, have remained unchallenged for more than a decade. 

His dominance was something many expected when they first saw him and track & field pundit and four-time Olympic medallist Ato Boldon is no different.

“I always thought Bolt could be special if somebody bridged that gap between his junior success and getting into the pros and his coach Glen Mills did that,” Boldon said in an interview with Athletics Weekly.

Boldon recalled how remarkable Bolt was the first time he ever saw him compete.

“The first time I saw him was actually a long way before the rest of the world was paying attention. He was at the Caribbean Games in 2004 and he set the World U20 200m record, clocking 19.93. It lasted all the way until last year,” he said. The USA Erriyon Knighton broke Bolt's U18 and U20 world records in 2021.

“He had his chain tucked into his mouth and he took the last 100m off. He was looking at girls in the stand and could’ve waved to the crowd, he was so far in front. He ran 19.93! Imagine a junior doing that? I’d never seen anybody that tall move their legs that quickly. Of course, he went to the Athens Olympics later on that year and didn’t get through the first round. Then in 2005, he re-emerges and he’s on the pro circuit,” he added.

Bolt’s rise didn’t come without setbacks as in 2005, he got to the final of the Men’s 200m at the World Championships in Helsinki and was in position for a medal before he pulled up injured with about 60 metres to go, finishing eighth in 26.27.

“Two years later in 2007, he gets the World 200m silver medal (in Osaka, Japan) behind Tyson Gay and he arrives. Everyone knows what then happened in Beijing in 2008,” Boldon said.

"As they say, the rest is history."

After a successful indoor season during which she ran a new lifetime best of 7.04 while finishing fifth in the 60m final at the World Indoor Championships in Serbia in March, Williams and her coach Ato Boldon turned their attention to preparing to compete in Jamaica’s National Senior Championships at the end of June with the intention of making Jamaica’s team to the World Athletics Championships at Hayward Field in Eugene in July.

Apparently, the heavy workload had taken its toll and Williams, who won gold in the 4x100m relay at the Tokyo Olympics last summer, was clearly not at her best. Following the run in Oregon, social media blew up with toxic narratives. She was not progressing fast enough. She needs to leave Boldon. Other Jamaican women had surpassed her now.

Those criticisms stung and were partly behind her decision to travel to Jamaica to compete at the JAAA/SDF Jubilee Meet at Jamaica College in Kingston on Saturday. There, she ran a wind-assisted 10.91 (3.4m/s) in the preliminary round and then returned for the final where she ran a season's best 10.98 which went a long way toward silencing the armchair coaches.

“I definitely did,” said Williams while speaking with Sportsmax.TV after her triumphant performance on Saturday night.

“We don’t always have perfect races. Last week (Oregon) wasn’t my best. I wasn’t feeling my best but I am glad I got this meet in, was able to have a prelim and a final and finish healthy with a new season’s best.”

In truth, following her performance at the Prefontaine Classic when she clocked a relatively pedestrian 11.20, Williams did begin to doubt herself. However, those doubts were quickly extinguished by Coach Boldon.

“Well, I only had Prefontaine that was really bad. After the race, I was like ‘Oh My God, what’s going on? I am putting in the work’, but my coach said just trust the process. The work is there in training; you just have to wait. Everyone has their time, and we will not always have the best races,” she said.

“I would love for people to actually understand that we’re human beings and we’re athletes and we go through a lot and one bad race, we bounce back into a good race and we move forward.”

In fact, Williams believes that despite what the naysayers believe, she has been having a really good season.

“This season has been going well so far, especially indoors, my first full season indoors, 7.04. No one at 19 has done that and just to be the youngest at the World Indoor Championships and to place fifth really meant a lot,” she said.

“After indoors I went straight into training, heavy training, and I think that was where I was feeling it, at Prefontaine.”

Now with that disappointing performance clearly behind her, Williams is now firmly focused on being at her best for Jamaica’s National Senior Championships from June 23-26, when she will face off against some of the fastest women in the world with the aim of booking a ticket to Oregon in July.

To do that she will face as deep a field as she has ever faced in Jamaica. In addition to the usual suspects, Elaine Thompson-Herah, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, who will compete despite having a bye to Oregon as the defending 100m champion and Shericka Jackson, Williams will come up against an in-form Kevona Davis, Natasha Morrison, Remona Burchell, Natalliah Whyte, Kemba Nelson and Shockoria Wallace all of whom have been having strong seasons.

Notwithstanding the depth of talent, the Olympic gold medallist said nothing will change in how she prepares for the fierce battles ahead.

“Never, it is always the same. It is always a hot field and I always perform my best when the time is right,” she said.

“I know that trials will be hard. Everyone is running fast. That is how it’s supposed to be. I am looking forward to trials.”

It depends on who you ask.

For many Americans, the late flamboyant American woman who holds the world record in both 100 and 200m, and also won three gold medals at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, is the one. Outside the US, the answer is not as clear as many believe that a certain Jamaican, a two-time Olympic gold medalist and four-time world champion, is in fact the greatest.

This week, Olympian turned coach and broadcaster Ato Boldon might have changed one iconic American’s mind about who is truly the greatest female sprinter of all time.

During his Athletics Live interview on Instagram with Flo-Jo's best friend and two-time Olympic 100m champion Gail Devers on Wednesday, Boldon asked Devers, who she thought was the greatest female sprinter. It was a question posed by a viewer.

‘I’ve got to go with the world-record holder,” said Devers matter-of-factly, after a brief pause. 

Boldon, a big fan of Griffith-Joyner, replied: “I get into trouble with that because I have to broadcast with my head and not my heart. I can’t have any allegiance and I look at what Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce has done. Two gold medals and a bronze in back-to-back-to-back; the four world titles, more than anybody else, male or female. I know she doesn’t have the world record, obviously, but if you go ‘Tom Brady is the greatest or (basketball legend) Bill Russell or whoever is the greatest; it’s based on the championships,” Boldon opined while Devers nodded in agreement.

Boldon, who like Griffith-Joyner attended UCLA and admitted that he worshipped the ground she walked on, also reasoned that Flo-Jo only had one great season when she set world records in both the 100m and 200m and then went to the Olympics and won the sprint double and the 4x100m relay and picked up a silver behind Russia in the 4x400m.

“Yes, it was the greatest year ever, but it was the one year,” he said.

Devers then responded saying “I get what you’re saying” but Boldon continued to reinforce his point pointing out that if anyone asked Mike Powell, who has held the long jump world record for 30 years now, who is the greatest long jumper, he would say Carl Lewis “without even thinking about it.”

Lewis won long jump gold in four consecutive Olympic Games – 1984, 1988, 1992 and 1996.

But the Trinidadian was not done. He added that most people would never consider Wayde van Niekerk, the 400m world record holder, the greatest 400m runner of all time over Michael Johnson.

“You have to apply the rules the same way,” Boldon said. “Most world record holders aren’t necessarily the greatest.”

Confronted by the veracity of the points Boldon made, Devers relented.

“You’re right, you’re right,” she agreed. “It’s as you said, it’s the consistency, it’s how many titles, can they come back-to-back. I have to give some second thought to that. You’re right.”

Williams, who was selected on Jamaica’s team for the 60m, started her season on January 14 at the Purple Tiger meet in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, with times of 7.20 in the preliminaries and 7.18 in the final.

On January 29^th, the Olympic 4x100m relay gold medallist ran 7.22 to finish fourth at the Millrose Games in New York. She returned to New York a week later at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix running 7.09 in the preliminaries, a personal best, and 7.11 in the final.

“The Briana that ran 7.19 in January and 7.09 in February has improved steadily and I think she’s ready to be a factor in Serbia,” Boldon, the four-time Olympic and two-time World Championship medallist, said in an interview with Sportsmax.Tv.

“Is there another 60m PR coming? I believe so. That’s why we are going,” he added.

The World Indoor Championships will be held from Friday, March 18-Sunday, March 20 in Belgrade, Serbia.

Ewa Swoboda (6.99), Marybeth Sant-Price (7.04), Mujinga Kambundji (7.05), and Mikiah Briscoe (7.07) are the only participants that have gone faster than Williams this season.

Currently the coach of young Jamaican sprinter Briana Williams, Boldon has tipped the Olympic gold and silver medallist from the 100m at last year’s Tokyo Olympics to challenge Joyner’s mark of 10.49 which she did at the US Olympic Trials in 1988.

“I think they’re both certainly capable,” he said in an interview with Athletics Weekly before going on to outline that he thinks Thompson-Herah may have a better chance at the record.

“I don’t know if anybody else in the immediacy can do that but I’d give Elaine a better chance just because of her form. She is so much better at 200m than so many others. I also don’t think you can look at her 10.54 at Hayward Field last year, considering she was kind of fatigued after coming off three gold medals in Tokyo, and not think there’s another five hundredths of a second somewhere to tie the 10.49,” he added.

As he mentioned, Thompson-Herah, who is 29-years-old, lowered her own personal best to 10.54 at the Eugene Diamond League last year leaving many, including Boldon, anticipating a record-breaking performance from her in the near future.

“I would probably be surprised if 10.49 survives Elaine Thompson-Herah’s career,” he said.

Fraser-Pryce, now 35-years-old, also had a stunning season in 2021, lowering her personal best to 10.60 at the Lausanne Diamond League in August.

“I don’t know how long Shelly-Ann has got left but I don’t think Tokyo was her last Olympics and I think she’ll go out after Paris in 2024. She has the talent as well. I mean, she ran 10.63 in April so anything is possible,” Boldon said.

The 20-year-old star will join Michael Frater and Gregory Little at the Kingston-based Titans International Track Club with the blessing of her now former coach and mentor Ato Boldon. She retains her agent HSI Sports and managers LEEP Marketing.

“Briana, by her own admission, has grown comfortable over the last season and needs to be more challenged, so with my blessing and encouragement, she’ll be joining Michael Frater and Gregory Little’s group,” Boldon said.

“From the beginning, she and I knew I’d have to hand her off to someone who could coach her full time and as she turns 21 soon, now is the time.

This is the next chapter in her development and I’ll continue to advise and guide her, as I have since she was 10.”

Boldon has been Williams’ mentor and coach for the past decade. During that time, she ran a World U15 age-group 100m record of 11.13 in 2018.

That same year, she won three gold medals -100m, 200m and 4x100m - in the U17 category at the Carifta Games and was named winner of the coveted Austin Sealy Award.

Later that year, at age 16 and competing at the U20 World Championships in Tampere, Finland, Williams won the 100m in 11.16 before setting a new national U20 record of 22.50 while winning the 200m.

In doing so, she broke the previous U20 championship record of 22.53 held by the Bahamian Anthonique Strachan.

Williams won three more gold medals at the 2019 Carifta Games.

But according to the young star, it was time for a change.

“I'm excited about this new chapter and happy to be training in Jamaica,” said Williams.

“I have to thank Coach Ato for how much he has done for me and my career so far. He will always be a father figure to me.”

Titans International boasts an impressive roster that includes Yohan Blake, the 2011 World 100m champion and second-fastest man of all time, and Akeem Blake, the 2022 NACAC 100m champion, who was also a semi-finalist in the 100m at the 2022 World Championships in Eugene, Oregon.

Under the guidance of Frater and Little, Kemar Bailey-Cole, the 2014 Commonwealth Games 100m champion, has been resurrected after years of injury and illness threatened to end his once-promising career.

Williams, a Nike athlete, is a Digicel Brand Ambassador and a Brand Ambassador for Grace Foods.

Correction: In the original story published we mentioned that at the World U20 Championships in Tampere, Finland, Briana Williams broke the championship record held by Veronica Campbell Brown. That was incorrect. The record of 22.53 was held by Anthonique Strachan of the Bahamas. Strachan set the record at the 2012 championships.

Late last year, Williams, who celebrated her 18^th birthday on March 21, 2020, signalled her arrival among the professional ranks when she signed a multi-year professional contract with Nike.

It was just two years ago, in mid- March of 2018, that Williams signalled to the world that she was on her way when she set the 100m world age-group record for 15-year-old girls of 11.13 at the Bob Hayes Classic in Jacksonville, Florida.

Mere weeks later, she won three gold medals at the Carifta Games and claimed the coveted Austin Sealy Award as the most outstanding athlete of the meet.

However, it was the summer of 2018 that she demonstrated the immense depth of her talent when at the age of 16 she defied the odds to win the 100m and 200m titles at the World U20 Championships in Tampere, Finland.

The year 2019 was to prove as successful even though there would be a bump in the road.

At what would be her final Carifta Games, Williams repeated her exploits of 2018 and won the Austin Sealy Award for a second time.

She would go on to win the NACAC U18 100m title as well as the Pan Am U20 title and set a World U18 record of 10.94s when she finished third at the Jamaican national championships in June beaten only by world-leading times of 10.73s run by Olympic champions Elaine Thompson and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce.

However, the 10.94 was erased after she failed a drug test having ingested Pharma Cold and Flu tablets tainted with the diuretic hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ). She was reprimanded by a Jamaica Anti-Doping Disciplinary Panel and missed a chance to compete at the World Championships in Doha, Qatar.

It turned out to be a pit stop in her burgeoning career as greater things clearly await.

But, what is it like for her coach, shaping the future of a confident but headstrong 18-year-old?

Boldon shed some light on their relationship, first revealing that he did not start out intending to coach a then precocious 11-year-old Williams.

“I wasn’t really thinking about coaching her. I was more fundraiser in chief when it came time to find the money for her summer meets. Whatever shortfall she had after we did her go fund me, I made up,” he said.

Having ended up coaching her, Boldon said they now share a solid and fruitful connection.

“The relationship really is a good one. I think Briana and I know each other very well. I have to deal with the fact that she is a headstrong teen, she has to deal with the fact that my patience is about a quarter-of-an-inch long. I notice now when I go off on her over something, her attitude is “ok here he goes, he’ll be ok once he’s done," he said, explaining why he believes they are perfect for each other.

“Briana and I are both very interested in history. That’s why it works. It also works because she trusts me implicitly. The last three seasons have gone exactly as I told her they would in terms of times and performances.

“I’d like to think she’s inherited her sense of history from me. If it’s been done before, I am not really interested in it. I want her to blaze new trails and create history. I’m not sure she felt that way before. Her age-group world record in 2018 changed that. Hearing “Fastest 15-year-old girl ever” changed her mind quickly.”

It has not all been smooth sailing, however. After all, Briana is still a teenager.

“Briana is very headstrong. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. I tell people all the time, go look at the Kentucky Derby. You’ll see a horse that refuses to get in that starting gate. He’s not interested, won't conform, doesn’t care if the world is waiting,” he said.

“Briana can be like that, and I don’t like to be challenged when I’m coaching so it leads to some interesting interactions between us. Being headstrong I think is a trait of most great sprinters, so I’d never try to kill that part of her.”

There is a method, though, to getting the best from her.

“Once Briana sees results, she’ll do exactly what you want - and ask for more. There are workouts in 2018-2019 that I wanted to use sparingly because she’s 16 (now 17) and she’s like "coach we haven't done Workout X in a while…why not…?” and you realize “oh, she understands what that will do for her, she’s not afraid of the pain and she’s not going to avoid doing it again either."

Boldon, the first world junior champion to become a world champion at the senior level, said Williams is chest-deep in talent.

 “Briana has natural gifts that I’ve never seen. I've never seen someone at her age start like that. When it’s a big occasion, her start never deserts her. World under-20 final 100m, Jamaican Nationals 2019, 100m. I had pro sprinters in my camp that she could hold her own with - at age 14,” he said.

“I had to completely revamp her strength training this season because she can lift whatever I throw at her, but I will need that in her 20s and 30s. I can get around doing that stuff now. From hip to knee, she’s a beast. Grown men see her doing Olympic lifts in the gym and can't believe it. Much of speed is about strength to weight. She only weighs 125lb, but for her size, she’s extremely strong.”

He said he has no real issues in keeping her motivated, a critical component of her achieving greatness as she transitions to the senior ranks.

“She’s very motivated on her own. She doesn’t need me for that - until it’s something she hasn’t thought of. She knew she wanted to win World under 20s in the 100m in 2018 - even though she was only 16,” he said.

“I knew she could win both. She had to be convinced about the 200m. In 2018, people online were trying to tell her that she shouldn't be running with pros e.g. at Racers Grand Prix. Maybe she believed some of them. I convinced her otherwise. I don’t have to convince her much anymore.”

The Covid-19 pandemic will slow Briana Williams in 2020 as the 2020 Tokyo Olympics might be postponed until 2021. However, all that would do is delay the inevitable rise of the next female star of track and field.

Williams encountered a challenging season in 2023, contending with injuries after transitioning from Coach Ato Boldon in Miramar, Florida to Titans International in Jamaica, where she was coached by Gregory Little and Michael Frater. Following the split of her coaches late in 2023, Williams continued under Coach Frater until making the decision to join Coach John Smith's program in March this year.

Smith, who currently coaches Marie Jose Ta Lou Smith, the fastest woman from Africa and a two-time World Championship silver medalist, brings a wealth of expertise to Williams' training regimen. Ta Lou Smith provided a glimpse of what Williams could become by winning the 100m in 10.91 at the Jamaica Athletics Invitational, where Williams achieved a season's best of 11.39, finishing seventh.

The time reflected a significant improvement on her 11.54 season opener at the Occidental Invitational in Los Angeles just over a week ago.

Reflecting on her transition to Coach Smith's program, Williams emphasized her commitment to the process and the progress she's making.

"Training, I am taking it day by day. I’m learning new things; it’s a new program so I’m getting adjusted every day, loving the progress," Williams shared post-race. "I’m just taking my time, we have six weeks to go to trials so I want to get everything in, start running every week, and just getting race ready, taking it one day at a time to prepare and make the team."

Williams also highlighted the positive impact of training alongside Marie Jose Ta Lou Smith and the supportive group dynamics.

"It’s the best. I have a great group, great training, great coach. Marie, I learn so much from her and I really appreciate her as a teammate and all the rest of my teammates, and I really do adore the group," Williams commented on her training environment.

Regarding the transition to Coach John Smith, who was once the coach of her former mentor Ato Boldon, Williams expressed enthusiasm for the training regimen and the mentorship she receives.

"It’s amazing! The workouts are not too different. John is like the guru of track and field, so it’s really great learning from him and I learn a lot from him; he makes me strong mentally and physically as well," Williams remarked.

Despite the recent race result, Williams remains focused on the journey ahead, acknowledging the challenges of adapting to a new program mid-season.

"It wasn’t my best race, but I was just working on the things that I need to work on. Getting into a new program in the middle of the season is not easy but it’s what’s best for me right now so I am just taking it one race at a time," she concluded.

The 22-year-old Williams is expecting to be racing over 200m next week in Los Angeles.

Williams, who will be 20 the day after the end of the championships, is the second-fastest Jamaican woman in the world this year after she ran 7.09 over 60m at the New Balance Grand Prix in New York on February 6.

Only Elaine Thompson-Herah, who ran 7.04 at the ORLEN – Copernicus Cup in Torun, Poland on Tuesday, has run faster than the Florida-based teen, whose coach Ato Boldon, confirmed her availability to Sportsmax.TV.

“It would be easy to say, ‘Well, Euro travel is a hassle’ or ‘Let’s get ready for outdoors’, but a deal is a deal and I told her if she ran 7-oh she could go and she’s not only done that, she’s recaptured some of that 2018/2019 hungry-as-hell-Briana form so I’m eager to see the results of all the work she’s put in,” he said.

Williams began her season in Baton Rouge, Louisiana on January 14 with runs of 7.20/7.18 and then dipped to 7.22 at the Millrose Games in New York on January 29.

She rediscovered her form at the New Balance Grand Prix with 7.09/7.11 clockings that were only surpassed by Thompson-Herah, who ran 7.08 in Birmingham on February 19 and then 7.04 in Torun.

However, based on a post on Instagram on Tuesday following her second-place finish in Torun, her outing in Poland was her last for the indoor season.

“Didn’t win today but super grateful. Everybody’s a work in progress. I’m a work in progress. I am still learning all the time. See y’all outdoors,” she said.

There is also no indication that Olympic 100m bronze medallist Shericka Jackson will be heading to Serbia next month. Jackson is the third-fastest Jamaican woman this year by virtue of her 7.12 run in Fayetteville, Arkansas, on February 11.

The 19-year-old Williams will face the likes of Aleia Hobbs and Mikiah Brisco both of whom defeated her in Louisiana, a fortnight ago. Also in the line-up is two-time Olympian English Gardner and Tokyo Olympics 200m bronze medalist Gabby Thomas.

The 2018 World U20 champion, who has been working on her speed these past two weeks, said she is relishing the challenge.

“I feel excited and ready because I've been doing well in training and I’ve focused more on speed work this week to gear up for this meet. The 60m field is loaded so I can’t wait to see how I do,” said the talented teen who is hardly ever daunted by the occasion.

Meanwhile, her coach Ato Boldon sees this as another opportunity for Williams to get more accustomed to competing at the senior level.

“The line-up for the Millrose Games will be a great challenge for Briana as she works through being calm under pressure, which is critical for senior-level competition,” he said.

Williams is one of track and field’s most promising young athletes. She was a member of Jamaica’s 4x100m relay team at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics where she became the youngest Jamaican ever to win an Olympic gold medal.

Williams, 18, will run in the 60m dash.

She had been scheduled to open her season running the 150m and the 300m in the Bahamas last December but withdrew at the last minute. Since then, the cancellation of a number of meets because of the pandemic has prevented her from competing so far this season.

However, according to Boldon, she has been training well and just wants a chance to compete.

“Ideally, I would have liked Briana to have run several meets by now. She has been begging me to get out of training and into competition but between Covid and the mishap in Freeport, Bahamas it just didn’t work out. So, her first meet will be on February 13 in New York,” Boldon said, indicating that his young charge is as ready to compete as she will ever be.

“She’s ready as she was last season; she opened in 7.2 and then started to get consistent at 7.1. I think she is a little bit ahead of last year. She is in better shape and is a little stronger.”

He indicated that because this is her first meet for the year, they are approaching the meet with an open mind.

“There is really not a lot of expectation going into the first race because the truth is it’s a lot more important to just get her out of training and get her back on the horse, so to speak,” he said.

“She is very excited for it and we look forward to a good indoor season that sort of segues into  a great outdoor season in 2021.”

At the two-day event, the 18-year-old Williams was set to compete in a 300m race today and a 150 sprint on Saturday but a reported failure on the part of the meet organizer to provide basic deliverables has forced her coach Ato Boldon to withdraw her from the meet and head back to Florida.

Confirmation came in the form of a post on Williams’ Facebook page this evening.

“Freeport, Bahamas has a special place in our hearts.

Last year, we flew here to do our part in the hurricane Dorian relief effort, so when the opportunity came to compete here this year, it seemed like a great idea,” Boldon’s statement said.

“Unfortunately, the organizers of this meet have failed to deliver on just about every reasonable expectation that there could be to host a decent track and field event, and as a result, I’ve decided to withdraw Briana from participation in this meet.”

Boldon said the athlete would resume training until another opportunity presented itself for her to compete.

Had she participated in the meet, it would have been the first time that Williams would be competing in December.

According to Boldon, the movement of the Olympics to the Summer of 2021 is likely to push the World Championships to 2022, sparking a domino effect on other major games.

“It means that we may be in for four championship years in a row. We know that the summer Olympics are going to be in 2021. I think they are going to push the World Championships over to 2022 which means that it then conflicts with the Commonwealth Games and the World Cup, and then we get back on stream with the regular schedule of 2023 World Championships and 2024 Olympics in Paris,” said Boldon.

These movements, Boldon believes, won’t reset the athletic calendar for another five years, but sees no real alternative to the unprecedented action of putting an Olympics in an odd year.

Boldon has an interest in what the next few years of athletics holds as the coach of rising star, Briana Williams.

Williams was set to contest for a place in her first Olympics and in a recent SportsMax.tv interview, Boldon said the delay was good for his athlete, who would have a year to get stronger.

The 21-year-old Richardson, who won the NCAA National title in 2019 in 10.75, blazed to a world-leading time of 10.72 while easing up more than 10 metres from the finish line. The performance sent shockwaves across the athletics fraternity and threw the gauntlet down to defending champion Elaine Thompson-Herah and 2008 and 2012 champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, who won an unprecedented fourth world title in Doha two seasons ago.

Boldon thinks that the era of Jamaican dominance in the blue-riband event could be coming to an end.

“I’ve seen all I need to see from Sha’Carri yesterday. She’s the favourite no matter what and the whole industry knows it, track agents, shoe executives from all countries and other industry folks were saying as much post-meet yesterday,” said Boldon, who broadcasted from the meet held at the Ansin Stadium.

“Favorites don’t always win the Olympics but I think she will run 10.6 before the Olympic trials happen in June, maybe in Oregon if it’s not too cold, maybe at Mt Sac on May 9.

“Sha’ Carri is the 100/200 gold medal favourite for the Tokyo Olympics. Period,” Boldon said of the upstart American, who ran a personal best 22.00 at Montverde, Florida, in August last year.

The 21-year-old American is now the fifth-fastest woman in history as only Fraser-Pryce, Thompson-Herah (10.70), Marion Jones (10.65), Carmelita Jeter (10.64) and Florence Griffith-Joyner (10.49) have run faster.

Finishing second in the race was the USA’s Javianne Oliver, who clocked 11.07 while Jamaica’s Natalliah Whyte was third in 11.16. Natasha Morrison crossed the finish line fourth in 11.22.

The rivals met in a number of major finals that were talked about for years, especially the epic 1993 World Championships 100m finals in Stuttgart, Germany and the Olympic Games in Atlanta, three years later.

Prior to those two years, Devers and Ottey met in the finals of the 100m finals at the Barcelona Olympics in 1992 when Devers won her first Olympic 100 title in 10.80s. Ottey was fifth in 10.88 in one of the closest finals in history. 0.08 seconds separated the first five places.

That race marked the beginning of a tense rivalry between Devers and Ottey that would only intensify over the next four years.

In Stuttgart, Devers got off to a flyer and was ahead midway the race but she was being reeled in by a fast-closing Ottey, who with her final strides appeared to have caught the diminutive American as they crossed the line together.

Unsure of who won, the finalists stood around looking up at the scoreboard for what seemed like an eternity. Officials eventually announced that Devers had been awarded the victory even though both she and the Jamaican icon were given the same time of 10.82.

Jamaican protested the result but the decision upheld, handing the American.

By 1996, the 36-year-old Ottey was at her fifth Olympics, Devers her third, and once again they came face to face in the 100m finals and once again, history repeated itself. Devers got off to a great start only to be reeled in by Ottey and sure enough, they crossed the finish line together.

Both were timed in 10.94 but like in Stuttgart, the American was given the nod. The circumstances created tensions between the two countries and their athletes. However, Devers said those tensions were simply about competition.

“You just get caught up in ‘this is competition and you got coaches who say we’re going to protest this,” Devers told Ato Boldon on his Athletics Live show on Instagram last week.

She said she had no idea why things turned out the way they did, why it always seemed to come down to her and Ottey.

“It keeps coming up that it’s these two every time. I don’t know why it was always us but we were always willing to go to the wire,” she said.

Devers explained that in the early days' everyone kind of kept to themselves, leaving little to interact with her rivals.

“When we were competing, it was (Irina) Privalova, it was me, it was Gwen Torrence, it was that four that you could not pick who was going to win on that day,” she said.

“And we can’t duck each other, we gotta go, we gotta run, gotta bring you’re A-plus game because they’re bringing their A-game. So with Merlene, I always knew she was a great athlete and I would always tell her ‘You still running, shoot…”

She said that as time passed, they both got the chance to get to know each other and the tensions cooled.

“While you’re competing everybody is in their own camp, you don’t sit there and socialize anyway, but as we got older, going to awards ceremonies or even with social media, we were able to talk to each other,” she said.

“She knows that I have always admired her because I don’t care at what age, if she steps out there now I am concerned. You might want to be worried because if she is in the lane, she is ready to go.”

The 24-year-old Warholm came incredibly close to Kevin Young’s world record of 46.78 set back in 1992, when he ran 46.87, a European record, at the Diamond League meeting in Stockholm in August.

Warholm also became the first athlete to run 47.10 or faster over the 400m hurdles multiple times during the course of a single season. He did it four times.

His remarkable performances made him the standout star in 2020 as every time he raced fans expected him to challenge or break the world record.

During a recent chat on Instagram Live with Olympian and athletics broadcaster Ato Boldon, Warholm was asked he if was ready to assume the mantle of the man to replace Usain Bolt. Achieving that, he said, would be impossible.

"When Usain Bolt came into the sport, he didn't have anyone right before him that... He didn't have any shoes to fill at that point,” he said.

"Now everybody talks about who's going to be the next Usain Bolt. Nobody is going to be the next Usain Bolt! Nobody is going to be the next Ato Boldon either.

"I think everybody's got to find their own way, Usain Bolt was huge so it's an honour just being compared to him but for me it's always been about developing.

"I don't want to build myself up as the face of the sport or the next Usain because for me it's about the running. If what comes with it is that people get inspired by what I'm doing, then I think that's great."

Speaking in an interview with Trinidadian legend Ato Boldon last week, Lyles says his next goal is to take home the 60m world title at the upcoming World Indoor Championships set for March 1-3 in Glasgow, Scotland.

“The goal is to win the World Championships indoor,” the 26-year-old told Boldon.

To win that crown, Lyles will likely have to beat countryman and current World indoor 60m record holder, Christian Coleman, who took gold at the 2018 World Indoor Championships in Birmingham. Coleman set the current world record 6.34 earlier that year. 2022 World 100m champion Fred Kerley will also compete indoors this season.

Lyles is coming off a phenomenal 2023 outdoor season. He won a trio of gold medals at the World Championships in Budapest in August, becoming the first man since Usain Bolt to achieve the feat.

At those World Championships, Lyles produced a new personal best of 9.83 to win his maiden World 100m title.

Lyles also had one of his best indoor seasons last year, including a personal best 6.51 to win the 60m at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix in New York last February.

He has never competed at the World Indoor Championships.

Based in the United Kingdom, AW covers news, results, fixtures, coaching and product advice for all aspects of track and field, cross-country, road racing and race walking.

Each year, the respected online publication asks its readers to pick their favourite athletes across several categories inclusive of International Athlete, British Athlete, International Junior Athlete, British Junior Athlete, Masters Athlete, and Para Athlete.

Williams, 19, was among a stellar field of nominees that included Namibia phenom Christine Mboma, the World U20 200m champion and Olympic silver medalist; the USA’s Athing Mu, the Olympic 800m and 4x400m relay gold medalist; Sweden’s Maja Askag, the European and World U20 long and triple jump champion; Silja Kosonen, the European and World U20 hammer-throw champion and Saga Vanninen, the European and World U20 heptathlon champion.

Readers also cast their votes for their choice for the Mel Watman Award for Performance of the Year.

Williams was the fastest U20 female athlete over the 100m in 2021 with her personal best of 10.97. She was also a member of Jamaica’s 4x100m relay team that won gold in Tokyo in a national record of 41.02, the third-fastest time in history.

Williams’ coach, Ato Boldon views her nomination with a sense of satisfaction.

“Briana had to overcome a lot last year, from her grandmother’s death to early-season injuries, so it’s gratifying that she still got Olympic gold with team Jamaica and this is a great honour to be nominated with these outstanding juniors,” he said.

The results will be published in the December edition of Athletics Weekly.

The International Olympic Committee and the organisers in Japan announced on Tuesday that they have postponed the Games for about a year because of the Coronavirus pandemic that has forced the cancellation or rescheduling of major sports across the globe.

The COVID-19 virus has infected more than 400,000 people and killed almost 19,000 in more than 150 countries.

What this means is that the 18-year-old sprinter now has to wait an extra year before she gets to compete in her very first Olympic Games against the world’s best sprinters. Not surprisingly, she posited a mature outlook.

“The postponement of the Olympics is a great decision because it’s for our health & safety. I’ve been looking forward to making the team for Tokyo 2020 with all the hard work I’ve put in, and the daily struggles that all of us athletes have to face,” Williams said while adding that all the athletes affected must still keep that Olympic dream alive.

“But these things happen for a reason. We just have to keep safe and take care of ourselves. “

Meanwhile, her coach Ato Boldon said the postponement simply means that his athlete has more time to prepare to take on the best female sprinters on the planet.

“Briana would have been ready to surprise many in Tokyo 2020, but now she gets another year to get stronger, fitter and faster. She has improved her 100m time every year for the past three seasons, so waiting another year for the Olympics should be beneficial,” Boldon said.

Williams has been in Jamaica for the past two weeks during which time she celebrated her 18^th birthday. Nevertheless, she will soon be back in full training as she prepares for the possibility of meets later on this season and for 2021.

“Our facility here (Florida) has been on lockdown but the restrictions will be lifted soon. She will continue to train with the expectation that there will be some late season meets in 2020.  Her training will be altered significantly though,” he said.

Williams, 19, who broke her national U20 record twice between Sunday and Monday night, ran times of 11.19 and 11.01 on Sunday at the JAC Summer Open in Jacksonville, Florida. The 11.01 lowered her national u20 record of 11.02 set in Albuquerque, New Mexico in June 2019.

The record would last just over 24 hours as on Monday night at the American Track League’s Duval County Challenge inside Hodges Stadium in Jacksonville, she ran a wind-aided 10.97 and then a wind-legal 10.98 to lower the record once more.

Her coach, Ato Boldon, was pleased with everything, except Monday’s poor start, that his young charge delivered over the two days and declared afterwards that she is right where he wanted her to be four weeks from Jamaica’s National Championships to select a team to the Olympic Games in July.

“I liked the fact that she competed but it’s just strange for me to not see Briana react well to the gun. She didn’t react normally to the gun and then she panicked a little bit and stood up out of her drive phase,” he said.

“It tells me that where I thought she should be, is where she is. That was 10.87, she lost about a tenth with not having a normal Briana start.”

Looking at the bigger picture, Boldon said Williams proved that she is ready to handle multiple rounds of competition, circumstances she will face at the national championships at the end of June and at the Olympic Games in Tokyo, should she get there.

“The most important thing about this weekend is that this young lady ran 11.19, 11.01, 10.97 and 10.98 so her body can handle the work, she is ready for rounds. This was more a workout than anything else because I purposely wanted to push her,” he said.

“We will back off this week and get her ready for the last couple of races and then get her ready for trials.”