MVP honours shock Williams

World Under-20 champion Briana Williams says she didn't expect to win the Austin Sealy award for a second straight year, but is proud of performance and achievement at 2019 Carifta Games.

The 17-year-old was given the award as the most valuable performer after she captured the sprint double in the Under-20 girls. Williams won the award last year while she was in the Under-17 category.

"It's an amazing feeling. I didn't expect to win it again and even though I have won it two times, I am very proud of myself," she told STAR Sports as she hurried to catch a flight to the US, moments after disembarking her flight from Cayman with the rest of the team at the Norman Manley International Airport yesterday.

Williams, who won the 100m in 11.25 seconds, before returning on Sunday's final day to take the 200m in 22.89 seconds, also helped her team to gold in the women's U-20 4x100m in 44.25, and she was pleased she was able to maintain her good recent form at the championships.

Remains hopeful

However, she remains hopeful of competing on the Grand Prix circuit this season, with the National Trials also firmly in the back of her mind.

"I'm looking forward to the Senior and Junior (National) Trials and, hopefully, the Grand Prix," she added.

Meanwhile, head coach, Marlon Gayle, thought it was wise of the Carifta organising committee to adjust the schedule of events after the JAAA and some athletes, including Williams, expressed concern over the fact that they were going to have to do multiple rounds of 100m and 200m in one day.

"I think the competition organisers did the right thing. One of the thing was they were going to have three 200m and three 100m (rounds) in one day. But when a schedule is done one of the things you have to look at is the actual entries. So based on the amount of entries we had from the different countries, we had two rounds for the 100m and two rounds for the 200m and that was pretty much in the ball park that we were expecting. So it was easier to manage the athletes in between rounds to ensure they could maximise on their performances each round,"he said.