Jodie Williams (August 2015)
Jodie Williams (Born 28/09/93). I met her after she won the 200m Final in Herts Phoenix colours, at the CAU Inter-Counties/English Championships at Bedford on the 2nd of August, 2015.
Jodie Williams, who has an engaging smile. She had just won the 200m Final in 23.97, after being first in her heat earlier that day in 23.83.
She had recently been selected for the 4x100 relay team for Great Britain in the World Championships in Beijing, China, (22-30th August 2015). That, in itself, was monumental for Jodie Williams, if you consider what she had to say.
“The season was quite a bad one because I was injured. I tore my hamstring a couple of months ago so; it has not been ‘Great’.
However, winning at Bedford gave her some confidence back.
About athletics she said ‘I love it all. I love the training and competing and make great friends as well’
She said that she really liked to run when she started at the age of eleven, at Heath Mount School, Kingswood. Her first breakthrough came in 2009 ‘It was when I won the World Youth, I thought then I could get somewhere (She won the 100 & 200 as an Under 17. It was at Benssanone, Italy and she did the fast times of 11.39/23.08 respectively)
In 2010 she won the IAAF World Junior Championship 100 and was 2nd in the 200 at Moncton, Canada.
The following year in the 2011 in the European Junior Championships in Talllinn, Estonia she won the 100 & 200.
Having already had a glittering early career in the sport, which would be the race that gave her the most satisfaction?
‘Getting my first senior medal at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow (August 2014. The first three were 1 Blessing Okagbare (Nigeria) 22.25; 2 Jodie Williams (England) 22.50 and 3 Bianca Williams (England) 22.58)
The interesting thing there was that the person who inspired her was Kathy Cook, who ran 22.10 in Los Angeles in 1984. In the Athletics Weekly it said, straight after the Commonwealth that Jodie came 2nd in, that Kathy Cook TOPPED THE UK ALL TIME LISTS for the event and in third place, after Glasgow was Jodie Williams with her 22.50!
Of the current runners she is most impressed with is, Olympic Champion Allyson Felix of the United States, the London Olympics 200m Champion. However she did point out
“To me it is obviously Kathy Cook with all her British Records’
Jodie Williams likes the 200 more than the 100 but, would she go to the 400, which she has run 52.55 for last year plus a relay split of 51.56. To that she said “I would not rule it out.”
She has a high regard for her coach Christine Bowmaker “She is a very good all round coach. We kind of work to-gether on my programme. I put stuff on and she puts stuff on. She is a great motivator.”