It was definitely a surprise!
Danielle ‘Ants’ Williams shocked the world with her performance at the World Championships in Beijing, China, last year.
But the 23-year-old is cautiously optimistic about her chances of repeating the feat at the Rio Olympics later this year.
The 5ft 6in athlete once again rose above expectations in striking fashion, when she was named runner-up to the Sportswoman of the year behind World and Olympic champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce at the RJR Sports Foundation Gala awards at the Jamaica Pegasus on Friday night.
Williams, a first-time nominee, was selected from a list of nine nominees, which included veteran Veronica Campbell Brown, Sherone Simpson, Elaine Thompson, Shericka Jackson, swimmer Alia Atkinson, boxer Alicia Ashley and cricketer Stafanie Taylor.
“I am honoured to even be considered for an award much less to finish as runner-up to the Sportswoman of the Year,” a beaming Williams told the Jamaica Observer.
“It was definitely a surprise because I told everyone that I was not getting my hopes up to win the award. I didn’t even know that there was a runner-up category, so I am very surprised and honoured,” she added.
The soft-spoken athlete rose to prominence when she upset the odds in remarkable fashion to claim the 100m hurdles World Championships title in the Bird’s Nest stadium in Beijing last August.
Williams etched her name in the history books when she exhibited splendid hurdling form en route to the gold medal in a new personal best of 12.57 seconds. She achieved Jamaica’s first gold medal in the event since 2009 when Brigitte Foster-Hylton won the world title in Berlin.
She also achieved the feat of being the youngest Jamaican sprint hurdles gold medallist in the process.
“Last year my season had a lot of highs and lows; most people saw the highs which is the end product, but they didn’t really recognised the lows. I was competing in about three or four outdoor races last season (and) I had picked up an injury in May, and I was out of competition for a month,” Williams explained.
The Queen’s High School alumna, who is now based in North Carolina (USA), added that she is now hitting the training circuit to improve on her craft ahead of the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
“This is the part of the season which I don’t fancy, but I intend to work tremendously long to endure this phase to get to the sweet part which is competition. I know the other competitors will be coming to beat me, so I am just getting myself in shape to compete so when Rio comes, I will be out there representing Jamaica in the best way possible,” she noted.
However, the Lennox Graham-coached athlete is striding slowly as the road to Rio begins at the National Senior Trials scheduled for June 30-July 3 at the National Stadium.
“I haven’t really set any expectations so far… I haven’t looked that far, but definitely the goal is to come to the National Trials in June and earn a spot on the team to the Olympics, and from there, I will do the best I can,” she declared.
