MOVING ON UP!

JAMAICA’S rising sprint sensation Lavanya Williams is crediting her mother for helping fuel her breakout season, and says strengthening her mental conditioning will be a key focus for the 2027 campaign. Williams, one of the fastest women in the world this year, ended her season over the weekend after competing in the women’s 100m and 200m at the inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championship in Budapest, Hungary. The 20-year-old missed out on a place in the 200m final after finishing seventh in her heat but was able to make the final of the 100m. She finished seventh in a stacked field which featured Olympic and World Champions Melissa Jefferson-Wooden, Julien Alfred and Sha’Carri Richardson. “This is the experience I always wanted, coming on the big stage, running with the big dogs, as you can see. I came out with a seventh place finish but it has been good,” Williams told World Athletics. Williams’ performances at the Ultimate Championship earned her US$16,000 ($2.5 million), adding another highlight to an impressive second season as a professional athlete since leaving William Knibb High. Williams, who is coached by former Jamaica sprint star Michael Frater at the Dynamic Speed Track Club, shattered her personal best in both sprint events. In the 100m she lowered her personal best from 11.45 seconds set in 2025 to 10.90, which she did at the Felix Sanchez Classic in the Dominican Republic last month. It was the fifth time she had gone under the sub-11-second mark this year, making her the 15th-fastest Jamaican woman of all time in the process. In the 200m her personal best improved from 24.38 last year to 22.44, earning her a spot at the Commonwealth Games this summer in Scotland where she reached the final and finished just shy of the podium in fifth. Williams didn’t finish the year empty-handed of silverware, however, as she won relay gold at the Commonwealth Games and the World Athletics Relays, as well as 100m gold and 200m silver at the North American, Central American and Caribbean (NACAC) Under-23 Championships in Mexico. Williams believes her desire to please her mother made her a better athlete this year. “This season I told myself that I really need to get on the worldwide radar, and I really wanted to make my mum proud,” she told The Inside Lane UK. “She did a lot for me. She always talking about, ‘I want my dream house, I want my this, I want my that’, and when I thought about everything [and] not going to college I’m like, ‘Nah, I got to step up and get in the game.’ ” Williams will be hoping to get her first taste of a major championship when she looks to qualify for next year’s World Athletics Championships in Beijing. Though happy with her performances so far, Williams says she will have to go a step further to compete with the best in 2027. “My season has been great. Part of it has been smooth sailing, [other] parts can get a bit demotivating at times because you know how the body works as an athlete. However, it has been good.” “[My biggest takeaway] is being ready mentally. You can be ready physically but sometimes, mentally, if you’re not there you won’t go far.” Sprinter Lavanya Williams reacts to qualifying for the women’s 100m final at the World Athletics Ultimate Championship in Budapest, Hungary, on September 12, 2026.