Being the fastest U20 female in the world and capping her season with an Olympic gold medal has earned Briana Williams a nomination for Athletics Weekly’s ‘International Junior Female Athlete’ for 2021.

The respected British online publication has released its list of nominees for its annual readers’ choice awards that cover several categories including ‘International Athlete’, ‘British Athlete’, ‘International Junior Athlete’, ‘British Junior Athlete’, ‘Masters Athlete’, and ‘Para Athlete’ as well as the Mel Watman Award for ‘Performance of the Year’.

Williams earned her nomination by virtue of the 10.97 seconds she ran at the Ansin Sports Complex in June, which was a national record.

The cherry on top of a solid season, despite hamstring injuries, was when she ran the lead-off leg of Jamaica’s 4x100m relay team that set a national record of 41.02s to win the gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics in Japan in August.

The time was the third-fastest ever run by a female sprint relay team.

Her fellow nominees also boast very strong credentials.

Chief among them is Athing Mu of the United States, an 800m runner, who dominated the NCAA season running the 400m, an event in which she ran a personal best 49.57s. She won the 800m at the US Trials in June and followed up with Olympic gold in the event. She won a second gold medal as a member of the USA Women’s 4x400m relay team.

Also among the nominees is Namibia’s Christine Mboma, who won the silver medal in the 200m at the Olympic Games. She is also the World U20 200m champion and holds the World U20 record in the event.

The list of nominees is completed by Sweden’s Maja Askag, the European and World U20 long and triple jump champion; Silja Kosonen, the European and World U20 hammer-throw champion and Saga Vanninen, the European and World U20 heptathlon champion.

The results will be published in the December edition of Athletics Weekly.