Her track career faltered early in 1994 from severe leg injury but Coaches Timothy and Lawrence Athill coached her back onto the track. Later that year she began working as the Director of Academic Advisement at the University of Albany. However, she again took up the long jump in seriousness the following year, moving to Eugene, Oregon to work under the tutelage of Elżbieta Krzesińska – a Polish Olympic champion and former world record holder in the event. Williams came second in the long jump behind Jackie Joyner-Kersee at the 1995 USA Indoor Track and Field Championships and thus qualified for the 1995 IAAF World Indoor Championships. In her first major international appearance, she came fourth in her qualifier but did not reach the final. She greatly improved the following year, winning the US Indoor title with a best of 6.79 m and then improving this further to 7.01 m at the US Olympic Track Trials. She was runner-up at the trials to Joyner-Kersee but as a top three finisher she gained automatic qualification into the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. On her Olympic debut on home soil she failed to record a mark, fouling three times, and was eliminated from the competition.