Jamaican 100m Gold Medalist Briana Williams split with Long time Coach and Mentor Ato Boldon
Channel: SPORTS CIRCLE TV
Date: 2022-09-22

Jamaican 100m Gold Medalist Briana Williams split with Long time Coach and Mentor Ato Boldon  
Olympic sprint relay gold medallist Briana Williams is about to launch a new chapter of her track and field career under the guidance of new coaches to begin the 2022/2023 track season.

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 record held by the iconic Veronica Campbell-Brown.

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.