Sixteen-year-old Briana Williams threw down the gauntlet to medal favourite Twanisha Terry of the United States with an easy 11.28-second run to record the fastest time in the preliminaries of the 100m on Wednesday at the IAAF Under 20 Championships in Finland.
Williams, who is among the medal contenders outclassed the field and said in a post-race interview she didn’t know she was going so fast given that she had – as per the instructions of her coach Ato Boldon – got a good start and ran easily to the line.
Williams’ teammate Ockera Myrie also advanced to the semi-finals in a time of 11.70s which saw her finish third in her heat.
Terry, however, also looked to be in good nick clocking 11.37s in her heat to advance to the semi-finals.
Great Britain's Kristal Awuah ran a lifetime best of 11.35 to also advance to the semi-finals.
Meanwhile, the Trinidad and Tobago pair of Jenea Spinks and Akilah Lewis are also through to the semis with times of 11.58 and 11.67 respectively.