Having clinched two world titles, Danielle Williams is on a mission to secure her spot on the Jamaican Olympic team after falling short in previous attempts. Determined to overcome the injuries that have disrupted her preparation in recent seasons, Williams has taken extra measures this year, including the addition of a massage therapist to her team.

Williams, who surprised the world by claiming the 100m hurdles gold in Budapest last season, acknowledges the challenges of building on that success. "It's a brand new year, and we start from scratch," she states. Reflecting on the lessons learned from the previous season, she aims to improve consistency in crucial areas to ensure peak performance at every race.

Addressing the recurring issue of early-season injuries, Williams explains her strategy for navigating this obstacle. "I added a massage therapist, who is there at the track every single day now," she reveals. This proactive approach allows the therapist to monitor and address potential issues before they escalate into injuries, providing Williams with the necessary support to maintain her health throughout the season.

With the world record now at 12.12 and several sprint hurdlers capable of times of 12.2s, Williams believes she has it in her to approach those times but offers a caveat to that objective.

"The conditions have to be perfect, and I can't control the conditions," she admits. Despite the challenges, she expresses her desire to run a personal best every time she competes but emphasizes the difficulty of achieving such feats due to continuous training without breaks from meets.

“Every time I step on the track I want to run a personal best but it's just that's not going to be the case just based on how training is lined up and we don't we don't take breaks from meets, so we train right through. The only meets we take breaks for are the national championship and the world championship, so it's definitely going to be difficult.”

Notwithstanding those challenges, she feels she is capable of exceeding her 12.32 personal best set in 2019. "I definitely know that I have it within me; it's just to get out and execute it on the day," she asserts.

With her eyes set on the upcoming season and the Olympic trials, Williams is determined to overcome past setbacks, stay injury-free, and potentially surpass her personal best, aiming for even greater heights with the ultimate prize being an Olympic medal.

World Athletics president Lord Coe fears fans – and athletes – could be priced out of next summer’s Olympics in Paris.

Coe is concerned over sky-high costs, with tickets for an athletics session at the Stade de France costing as much as £850 on the official Paris 2024 website. The cheapest admission for an evening session is £170.

Athletics remains the number one Olympic sport and, after sell-out crowds at August’s World Championships in Budapest, Coe is mindful of the costs.

“These are going to be the most expensive ticket prices in an athletics arena that we have witnessed at an Olympic Games,” he said. “We asked for a balance.

“The most important element here is you want fans in the stadium, you want fans within affordable prices. I know the challenge on a budget – 25 per cent of our budget in London was tickets.

“Our ticket strategy was built three years before the Games. We knew more about our fans at the end of that. We had some expensive tickets in there but we also had a lot at affordable prices.

“These are difficult balances for any organising committee, but if I am wearing my World Athletics hat, I don’t want fans being costed out of the stadium and I certainly don’t want athletes and their families being costed out of the stadium.

“If you look over the course of an athlete’s career, there are very few athletes that are able to sit down and say they got in commercial
sponsorship more than what their families put in.

“Most are sitting there at the end of a 15-year career and saying it was my families that bore the brunt of what I did, in terms of funding time, commitment and all the things. I want to be respectful for them, so that’s the challenge.

“We have made the point that these prices are lumpy. In Budapest we had very affordable price tickets. Tokyo (2025 World Championships) we will make sure we get the same as well.

“There are always going to be premium tickets, but it is important that our stadiums are full of people that love our sport, not people that can afford to get to an Olympics.”

Coe also said his vote for BBC Sports Personality of the Year on Tuesday evening would go to world heptathlon champion Katarina Johnson-Thompson, who regained her title in Budapest after recovering from a serious Achilles injury.

The 30-year-old has been shortlisted along with England goalkeeper Mary Earps, former cricketer Stuart Broad, jockey Frankie Dettori, tennis player Alfie Hewett and golfer Rory McIlroy, but Coe felt there should also have been a spot for 1500m world champion Josh Kerr.

“It’s a world championship,” Coe said. “Of course I’m going to say this, but this isn’t being remotely disparaging about anyone else on that list. That’s not my issue.

“The issue is that there are two truly global sports; one is football, one is track and field. Both Katarina and Josh Kerr won a world championship in one of the most fiercely competitive sports on the planet.

“Do I think there was room for both of them on that list? Of course I do. There is only Katarina Johnson-Thompson, so of course I’m going to say, as the president of World Athletics, I would be voting for her, because she’s a world champion, it was an extraordinary comeback, and she won a global world championship.”

Michael Carter-Williams has backed Joel Embiid to win a gold medal at the Paris Olympics, but he thinks an NBA title is out of reach for now.

Embiid was named the NBA MVP last season, having played 66 times for the Philadelphia 76ers across the regular season, averaging 33.1 points, 10.2 rebounds and 4.2 assists per game.

However, Embiid was unable to inspire the 76ers in the playoffs, as they lost to the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference semifinals.

Ahead of the new season, Cameroonian-born Embiid confirmed he would represent the United States at next year's Olympic Games, and Carter-Williams, who played alongside the center in Philadelphia between 2014 and 2015, thinks a gold medal is more than achievable for Team USA.

But he does not feel Embiid is likely to win an NBA championship with the 76ers just yet.

"I think that the gold with the United States is a way more sure bet than him winning the championship in Philly, just because they [have] got some things going on," Carter-Williams told Stats Perform.

"I believe that Embiid will get a championship in his career, I just don't know whether it's right now with Philly or if it's later on.

"There are just other teams that have made some really tough moves, I don't know how well Philly matches up with that."

The Sixers began the 2023-24 campaign with a 118-117 defeat to the Milwaukee Bucks. Embiid finished with 24 points, seven rebounds and six assists in that loss.

"He's been unreal," Carter-Williams said of Embiid.

"Someone who's also an abnormal-sized human being doing those things is unreal. His focus level is also really good, he just focuses on his footwork, I always just saw him watching films of so many big [players], Hakeem Olajuwon especially.

"Then I saw him on the court just emulating those moves over and over again, and I used to see his feet and his jump shot just improve over and over again, especially through his rookie year when he was hurt, and he was sitting out and his process was slowed down a little bit.

"You could see him practice every single day, and then as soon as he started going against guys in practice, you'd be like, 'man, he's killing it' and nobody could do anything about it."

As the world’s leading players eye Paralympic gold, the battle for supremacy in one para table tennis class could come down to a clash of two Welsh friends.

Wheelchair athletes Rob Davies and Tom Matthews are both training partners and rivals and, as two of the best in the game, have their sights set on the same top prize.

Davies, a two-time Paralympian, gold medallist in Rio seven years ago and winner of four European titles, is the more experienced of the pair.

But after a two-year injury lay-off that forced him to miss the Tokyo Games, the 39-year-old has had a long battle to get back to the summit.

In the meantime, Matthews, 31, has firmly asserted his credentials in the class one category, claiming bronze on his Paralympic debut in Japan and repeating that result at last year’s World Championships.

Both are ranked in the world’s top 10 and will be favourites at next week’s European Championships in Sheffield, where a precious qualification spot for Paris 2024 will be on the line.

“We’re team-mates and rivals in the competition,” Davies told the PA news agency. “We have a good bit of banter. He beats me and I beat him – that’s how it goes.

“Whether it’s me or him that gets the medal it’ll be really nice. I wish him well, he wishes me well and hopefully we can meet in the final.

“It’s been a long road back for me for the last two years. I had a medical problem that affected my nervous system and I wasn’t able to defend my title in Tokyo.

“That was really upsetting but I’ve been battling back. I was losing to people I’m not used to losing to but I’m finally getting up to the standard I’m used to now.

“I’m looking forward to the challenge. Paris has been my motivation to come back. I know I’m coming towards the end of my career but I’ve got something to prove and I want to go there and prove it.”

The pair have met plenty of times, both in training and more seriously, with Matthews’ victory in the Czech Open final this summer among their more high-profile recent encounters.

“It is a friendly rivalry,” said Aberdare’s Matthews. “I’m based in the Valleys and he’s up in Brecon, so we both train at Sport Wales in Cardiff.

“Off the table we are friendly. He is a really good guy and I respect him highly for what he has achieved in his career. Recently I came out on top but we know each other’s games inside out, so it could sway either way on the day.

“Hopefully we can meet in the final and make it a British one-two, but I’m hoping I come out on top!

“That’s the main aim. If you win the Europeans you get automatic qualification for Paris and I want to get that golden ticket.

“I obviously want to win the Paralympic Games – I’ve achieved winning a Paralympic medal and I haven’t got the right colour for myself yet – but the Europeans are next and that’s the only thing on my radar at the moment.

“I’ll take it match by match but I really want to win this one.”

Dylan Carter is anticipating a good year ahead as he can swim free knowing that he no longer has to worry about meeting the 2024 Olympic qualification standards.

On March 2, the 27-year-old Carter swam 48.28 to win the 100m freestyle race at the TYR Pro Series Meet in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, which is below the Olympic qualifying standard of 48.34. In winning, he held off the challenge of Matthew Richards (48.48) and Hunter Armstrong (48.95).

The time was a new national record for the twin-island republic and made Carter the first male 100m freestyler in the world to qualify for the Olympics in the event.

 “It’s all very exciting and I am very happy with that,” he told Sportsmax.TV.

Coming off the success at the World Short Course Championships in Australia in December 2022, where he won a bronze medal the 50m freestyle, Carter took some time to rest and prepare for Olympic qualification.

“Between World Short Course in December and now, I took a couple weeks’ break and went to Tobago for New Year’s and was coming back slowly in January, building up my fitness,” he said.

“I wasn’t really sure where I would be in March but I was focusing on my speed, strength and power through January and February.”

He believes the work he did building his strength helped him achieve the personal best time and a spot at the Olympic Games.

“I think that little extra bit of strength paid off. Also, racing the weekend before at the Jalisco Cup in Mexico was at 5500 feet altitude so competing all weekend racing very hard at altitude and then coming down the next week to race 100, I was really, really good at sea level. That might have played a part in it but I am really happy.

“It is a small personal best for me which at 27 years of age you can’t complain about that in March and it sets me up really well for the rest of the year and I don’t have to worry about qualification or time.”