Gregory Little, the coach of Jamaican sprint star Briana Williams, says his young charge is slowly getting back to her best after her recent “minor” injury, which caused her to miss the final of the women’s 100 metres at the Velocity Fest on April 22 at the National Stadium.

Williams, 21, had earlier qualified for the final of the event after advancing from her heat, but had to pull out of the event after complaining of tightness in her hamstring. The diminutive sprinter recently returned to the track at the JAAA All-Comer last Saturday to finish second in the women’s 100m in 11.38 seconds. The race was won by Ramona Burchell in 11.19.

Little, who is one of the head coaches at Titans Track Club, told the Jamaica Observer that Williams has now gotten over her injury and is now focusing on getting a lot better as the season progresses.

“We have to give her a little more time to recuperate because we have a few more races to run herself into shape. She had a little setback regarding a little hamstring tightness so we just have to be patient with her,” said Little.

“She is putting in the work at training and we just have to see how it manifests in the rest of the meets that she has coming, so that is where we are at the moment,” he added.

Little said he is encouraged by the fact that his athlete is aware of her present condition and what is required to take her back to being her best.

“No one will feel happy regarding that time which she ran on Saturday, but she understands that she had a setback and she is willing to put in the work to try and get herself ready for the upcoming meets and National Trials,” Little pointed out.

Williams, who won the World Under-20 sprint double title in 2018 in Tampere, Finland, has a personal best time of 10.94 in the 100m and 22.50 in the 200m, respectively. Williams joined the Titans Track Club at the end of last season after parting ways with her long-time coach, Trinidadian Ato Boldon, and consequently changed training locale. Little shared that her transition from the United States to Jamaica has not been the smoothest, but he is encouraging her to stay focused and disciplined and she will accomplish great things this season.

“She is always a confident person, but like I said, it is just a setback and she just has to keep on working hard and block out some of the negative people around her and she will be fine,” he said.

“I believe that once Briana stays focused and sticks to the programme and listens to the coaches’ advice, I think she will be okay. She is living in Jamaica, and this is actually the first time that she is living in Jamaica so the change of environment is a little bit kind of tough for her. But, once she stays focused and puts in the work she will be okay,” Little concluded.