WORLD LEADER SADA WILLIAMS has set a very high goal as she prepares to run for gold at the IAAF World Under-20 Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland.
Earlier today, Williams qualified for the final of the women’s 200 metres in 23.35 seconds, winning the first of the three semi-final heats. That race is scheduled for 12:20 p.m. tomorrow.
She went according to the game plan indicated at the end of the heats where she said she would like to run a similar time.
In the morning session, Williams won her heat in 23.38 seconds, qualifying second overall behind Bahrain’s Edidiong Ofonime Odiong who did a personal best 23.06 seconds.
To say the win looked easy would not be fully appreciative of the effort, but Williams clearly has more left in the tank, easing down across the line, well shy of her personal best 22.61 seconds.
She told the interviewer after the race she just wanted to qualify for the next round. But once she reaches the final, that is where you can expect to see the fireworks, which will be “lowering my personal best from 22.61 to anywhere in between 21.9 and 22.4.”
This was the highlight of the day for the Barbados contingent.
The men’s 4×100 metres relay team did not advance to the final, but set a new junior national record of 40.14 seconds in the heats, finishing tenth overall. This mark replaces the 40.33 seconds set by Michael Nicholls, Mario Burke, Kentoine Browne and Jaquone Hoyte at the National Championships last month.
Team Jamaica advanced fifth overall with 39.80 seconds.
Rivaldo Leacock did not reach the finals of the 400 metres hurdles as expected, finishing fifth in his heat in 52.22 seconds. Defending champion Jaheel Hyde and his Jamaican compatriot Timor Barrett have reached the final in 49.77 and 51.38 seconds, respectively.
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