16-year-old Briana Williams of Jamaica stunned by winning 200m GOLD with a record – IAAF World Junior
Jamaica’s newest sprint sensation 16-year-old Briana Williams once again stunned the sprinting world when she produced a phenomenal and stunning 22.50 seconds (0.1m/s) to complete the sprint double here at the IAAF World Under 20 championships in Tampere, Finland.
She became only the fourth woman to achieve the feat, joining Jamaica’s Veronica Campbell Brown who was the first woman to win the double in 2000 in Santiago de Chile, Bulgaria’s Tezdzhan Naimova in China in 2006 and Anthonique Strachan of the Bahamas in Barcelona, Spain in 2012.
The gold medal puts Jamaica into second place on the tables with eight — three gold, three silver and two bronze.
After winning the 100m gold medal on Thursday, she returned today under a brilliant blue sky with a master class in her less favourite 200m smashing not just the Championship record but also erasing the Jamaican National Junior and Youth Records.
Her time beats the NJR 22.71 seconds set by Simone Facey in 2004 and is the 21st best ever by an Under 20 runner and also the NYR (22.72 seconds) set in March this year by Kevona Davis and is the fifth best ever for an athlete under the age of 18.
American Lauren Rain Williams, who had the fastest time going into the final, was second in 23.09 seconds with Poland’s Marytna Kotwila taking third in a National Junior Record 22.31 seconds.
