Posted: May 2, 2005

Athletics: Lauryn Williams: 'It's Going To Take A Personal Best To Win The World Title'

By Bob Ramsak, Track Profile

(c) 2004 Track Profile all rights reserved TrackProfile.com

Much has changed for Lauryn Williams since she captured the silver medal in the 100 meters at last summer’s Olympic Games.

Off the track, she’s more recognized, she’s since bought a house, got a new car, and a Great Dane, one named, appropriately enough, Atheena. On the track, things are different too.

"There’s more pressure now," the 21-year-old said. "There’s a lot to live up to, being the fastest women in the USA."

Despite what appeared as a rapid rise last year, that ‘fastest woman" title –along with "world’s second fastest"-- didn’t come quickly and easily, and one she knows will be a difficult one to hold on to.

"When I think about cheating a little on sit-ups, I just think of Veronica Campbell," Williams said, referring to the 22-year-old triple Olympic medallist from Jamaica.

Judging from her performances of the past few seasons, Williams hasn’t cheated on too many sit-ups. After taking the 2002 world junior title in the 100, Williams emerged as a name to remember. Last year, she joined the sub-11 club with a 10.97 win at the NCAA Championships, a month before her third place finish at the Olympic Trials punched her ticket to Athens. At Olympic Stadium, she did her Sacramento performance one better, edging Campbell for silver by 1/100 of a second in 10.96.

Looking back on her breakout season, Williams said that despite being "distraught and depressed" about finishing second to Yuliya Nesterenko in the Olympic final, "there’s nothing to be sad about, really."

"It took a few days, but I had to realize that nobody else was looking at it as a loss. In another race, you get a silver medal and nobody remembers you. I had to grow out of that and realize everything that happened – a personal best, Olympic silver medal, being second-fastest in the world. That's a lot I accomplished in the year."

Obviously her goal for the year, she said, are next August’s world championships in Helsinki, "And running a personal best. Because I’m sure it’s going to take a personal best to win the world title."

Before earning her ticket to Helsinki, she’ll have to retain her "fastest woman in the USA" title at the U.S. trials in Carson, California in June, one of the toughest sprint challenges in the sport. Suggesting that the fresh face of the sprint circuit that began last year will continue at the national championships, Williams sees former LSU standout and fellow-Olympia Muna Lee and training partner Wylleshia Myrick as primary contenders.

"She’s in great shape, and she’s training really well," Williams said of Myrick, a fellow Miami grad.

And unlike some, she won’t discount Marion Jones either. "I wouldn’t it put it past her."

Campbell’s name is one than came up several times during her teleconference with reporters, illustrating the changing of the guard in the sprints that came about during the Olympic year. Unlike Campbell, the gold medallist in the 200, Williams has no intention to pursue a dash double.

"It’s not growing on me," she said, laughing. "I don’t like the 200. When I get to the straightaway, I feel like I can’t go anymore I feel like how, when you watch people run the 400 and they say the monkey jumps on your back.. I feel that way for 200 meters. I guess I just don’t have the endurance."

It’s not all track all the time for Williams, who despite her busy post-Olympic fall, made time to finish her degree in Finance at the University of Miami, graduating in three-and-a-half years. She works about 12 hours a week as an intern at Citibank and will begin graduate course work next fall.

She took an eight-week break after her season-capping meets at the World Athletics Final in Monte Carlo and in Busan, South Korea in late September, and readily admitted that after a busy fall, resuming her training was not an easy transition.

"I will admit I was off to a rough start," she said. "We just worked in the weight room from week six to eight. I had a hard time at first when I got back into the running. I thought, ‘I'm never going to be fast again - I'm a 14-flat 100 meter runner!’ I felt really heavy - I couldn't get my legs up."

But with the cobwebs and rust now out of the way, that brief glimmer of self-doubt is a fading memory.

"I feel great now. After the first six weeks [of running], I knew that my training was going better, and I started to feel in better shape, more normal you could say."

When she finally did return to the track, she said she was pleased with her early season progress. She opened her season with a pair of 200 meter races --a 22.70 at the Hurricane Invitational on March 19 and a wind-aided 22.53 on April 16. In between came a relay appearance at the Texas Relays.

"I would have liked to have been closer to my best," she said, a 22.46 clocking from last year, "but it went well. I feel great and am really pleased with where I started."

Williams appears comfortable with her current training environment under coach Amy Deem and said that training partners Myrick, Julian Clay, and Debbie Ferguson, the Athens bronze medallist in the 200, provide all the incentive she needs to pick up in 2005 where she left off in 2004.

"Just because I am the silver medallist, that doesn't mean they take it easy on me. They are usually beating me in practice."

After a relay appearance at this weekend’s Penn Relays, she’ll race next at the Jamaica International in Kingston the following Saturday. Depending on which events they decide to run, Williams may face Campbell on her home turf. As a Nike-sponsored athlete, an appearance at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene in June is likely before the national championships and the start of the European season. This year, the 100 is a Golden League event, and with it, the hunt for a share of the $1 million jackpot.

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