With her spot in the national team already secured, reigning 100m hurdles world champion Danielle Williams says she expects to be fully prepared to defend her title at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo in September.

Since April, the 32-year-old has gradually increased her preparations with four sprint hurdles races, two at the Diamond League in China, with the other two coming at Grand Slam Track (GST), including Philadelphia last Saturday.

However, for the second time in her career, the 2015 and 2023 world champion won’t have to compete at the National Senior Championships (Trials) later this month as she earned an automatic spot to the World Championships, being the defending champion of her event.

While she may miss out on competing against Jamaica’s best at the National Stadium, Williams sees the bye as a positive.

“That’s definitely a plus, I don’t have to peak for Trials to get down there and run fast to place top three,” she said. “So that’s definitely a plus this year so we can train straight through June.”

Though running 12.84 seconds to finish seventh at the Philadelphia GST on Saturday, Williams clocked a season’s best 12.53 seconds at the Xiamen Diamond League, which puts her in the top eight hurdlers this season.

At the same stage in 2024, Williams registered four 12.6 times including a then-season’s best of 12.46 seconds at the Jamaica Athletics Invitational.

However, Williams, who has a personal best of 12.32 seconds, says she’s making steady progress, especially after making changes to her hurdling technique.

“I’ve made some technical adjustments this season, so I’m really trying to get those to be automatic [so] that I don’t have to be thinking about them during the race,” she said.

“This is my fourth race and so it’s gotten a little better. I’m pleased with how the season has started with those technical adjustments so it’s another opportunity for me to work on those, trying to get them to be cemented and automatic.”

Unlike her national teammate Ackera Nugent, Williams isn’t the biggest fan of running the flat 100m. Williams, in her fourth 100m race since 2017, clocked 11.44 seconds on Sunday at GST to finish fourth behind Nugent 11.11, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone 11.21 seconds, and Ditaji Kambundji 11.41 seconds.

“For hurdles, you want to have short, frequent strides but for the 100, my strides are naturally long so the more I do the flat 100, the more it opens up for the hurdles, which is why over the years I haven’t done a lot of 100m. So, yes, the more I do it, the more it affects the hurdles, so that’s why I don’t do it a lot.”

Regardless, Williams says she’s satisfied with her season and isn’t perturbed by the World Championships being held three months from now.

“People have been saying the season is longer but I feel like we finish in September every year,” she said.

“Last season, Athlos was at the end of September so it’s not that much longer per se, but obviously the championship being in September at the end of the season is kind of different. That is still the main focus; everything we do is geared towards September.”

Williams walked away with $2 million following the Philadelphia leg of GST to add to the $16 million she earned after winning the women’s short hurdles in Kingston.

Danielle Williams of Jamaica competes in heat three of the women’s 100 metre hurdles during the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary, on August 22, 2023. (Photo: Naphtali Junior)