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.
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.
Called TITANS International, the club already has one famous Jamaican athlete on its roster but Frater plans to recruit more athletes as the club finds its footing within the Jamaican landscape.
TITANS is the acronym for Training Intelligently Towards Athletes Natural Speed, he said, explaining that he intends to use the information garnered while being coached by Francis and then Glen Mills, two of the best in the world.
Francis has coached the likes of former 100m world record holder Asafa Powell and Nesta Carter as well as Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Elaine Thompson. Mills was the man behind the iconic exploits of Usain Bolt. He also coached Blake as well as Warren Weir.
“I think the experience that I have gathered competing at the highest level and then being under the tutelage of Stephen Francis and then Glen Mills; I don’t think many people in the world have had that experience, so I am just going to use the knowledge that I have gathered from these great gentlemen,” he said
Track has always been an integral part of Frater’s life, winning medals in high school in Jamaica at Jamaica’s Boys and Girls Championships and at high school and college in the United States of America.
“I grew up on track and field. It’s something I have always wanted to do,” Frater said in explaining why he started the club.
“I am not going to go away from track and field. I am always going to be involved in track and field in every aspect of it so the next step is actually having my own coaching group. So myself and Gregory Little; we formed a group and we are working with some athletes now, Yohan Blake being the top athlete that we have at the moment.
“So, it’s just about getting a good group of athletes together and building on that.”
Frater represented Jamaica for more than a decade at several Olympic Games and World Championships.
Under Coach Francis, Frater surprised many when he won a silver medal in the 100m final at the 2005 World Championships in Helsinki. Three years later, he was a finalist in the 100m at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China where Usain Bolt set a world record of 9.69s.
In 2012, he was a key member of Jamaica’s 4x100m team that won gold at the London Olympic Games in a world-record of 36.84, a time that made Jamaica the first team to run faster than 37 seconds in the sprint relay.
In June 2011, Frater ran a personal best time of 9.88 that made him the sixth fastest Jamaican male sprinter.
Following his retirement from track, Frater, 37, joined the coaching staff at St.Jago High School in 2019, paving the way for the formation of his own track club.
