MONTEGO BAY, St James — A series of losses to Delano Williams in both the 100m and 200m sprints and an injury-plagued 2012 season have only served to intensify the resolve of Green Island’s Odail Todd as he chases an elusive individual gold medal at the ISSA/GraceKennedy National High School Championships.

Todd finished behind Munro College’s Williams in both races at the recent County of Cornwall Athletics Association’s Hanover Co-operative Credit Union Western Championships at the Montego Bay Sports Complex for the second straight year, but told the Jamaica Observer that rather than being disappointed he is “more motivated” now than ever.

Todd, the IAAF World Youth Championships 100m champion and 200m silver medallist, ran personal best times of 10.39 seconds and 20.90 seconds, respectively, and said those markers told him he was ahead of where he was the last two seasons.

In both losses where Williams chased him down at Western Champs, Todd said he and his coach Michael McIntosh saw where he went wrong and said it was nothing they could not work on.

“I saw where I went wrong,” he said, before going on to anchor the Class One team to a new Western Champs record of 40.68 seconds. Also, he ran the anchor leg of the winning 4x400m team as well.

“I did not attack the curve as I should in the 200m and did not finish well in the 100m,” were his brief analysis of both events. Todd said he was expecting another clash with Williams in the 4x100m, but Munro’s baton did not get to the Turks and Caicos native in time for that.

After inspiring his team to their first-ever wins at Gibson Relays last weekend — winning the Class One 4x100m and 4x200m — Todd will turn his attention to the CARIFTA Trials this weekend at the Stadium East facility.

After making the CARIFTA team last year, Todd suffered a series of leg injuries that forced him to withdraw from Champs in early April; he then withdrew from competition while at the CARIFTA Games in Bermuda later that month and a subsequent flare-up saw him opt out of the National Junior Trials for the World Junior Championships in Barcelona, Spain later in June.

Earlier this week his coach McIntosh explained that the injuries were a result of “uneven growth and developmental spurts” where one side of the body was in effect stronger than the other.

McIntosh said there were also issues with the hamstrings and a tendon at the back of the knee, but these were rectified by medical treatments and weight training.

“Odail’s body is still developing,” McIntosh said, and once he gets to that fitness and strength levels, we will see some phenomenal performances.”

Todd, who considers himself a 200m specialist and who won the silver in the half-lap event at Champs 2011, again behind Williams, said he was pleased with how his season had progressed so far. And even while running his personal bests in both sprints at Western Champs, said the “execution” of the race rather than the time was more important at this point in the season with the Junior Pan-Am Championships set to be held in Lima, Peru in early August.