Favourite Cedricka Williams of Holmwood Technical High School lived up to expectations when she threw a personal best 56.21m to win the Under-20 Girls’ discus on Thursday’s day one of the National Senior and Junior Championships at the National Stadium.

She eclipsed the old record of 54.72m set by Shanise Love of Excelsior High School all the way back in 2016 by more than a metre.

Williams established herself as one of the best female youth discus throwers in the country last year and has continued in the same vein this season.

Her new personal best not only made her the new meet record holder, but also guaranteed her a spot on consecutive World Athletics Under-20 teams, after she represented the country in Nairobi, Kenya, in 2021 for the first time at that level.

The teenager had two sub-par throws in the 47m and 48m range before she finally got things together and hit her new best on her fourth attempt.

Abigail Martin of St Jago High was second with a best of 51.13m, while Britannia Johnson of Camperdown High was third with 47.32m.

With a grin on her face, the shy Williams expressed glee at achieving a new lifetime best in winning the event.

“I am very, very, very happy because I did a personal best of 56m,” she said.

She was at a loss to explain what it meant to achieve 56 metres at the championships.

“I was just so happy. I don’t have any words to explain how I was feeling.”

She came into the championships confident of winning, knowing that she was the class act.

“The plan coming into the championships was to win, because I am better than most persons in the field, so that was the aim,” she said.

The new mark set by Williams makes her the second best junior in the event so far this year, which will no doubt heighten expectations ahead of the August 1-6 World Junior Championships in Cali, Colombia.

— Dwayne Richards