Future Stars

Daniel Williams

‒Youth, speed, tenacity

By Michelangelo Jacobus

In this week’s column we feature as our rising star athlete Daniel Williams. The 16 year old has already had a taste of major international competition in her “pet event” the 400 metres dash. At the World Under-18 Championships in July of this year in Nairobi, Kenya, Williams ran a personal best time of 46.72s to win a silver medal and stun the world.

Daniel Williams

Born in the mining town of Linden, a town known for producing top athletes, Williams who will soon turn 17, started taking part in athletics at Primary school where he excelled. His success was transferred into the secondary level and he became a constant figure at the National Schools Athletic Championships.
The young speed ace announced his appetite for big things in April this year when he placed second in the CARIFTA Games. However, his elation was short lived as he was soon after disqualified for lane infringement.
Seemingly unperturbed `Mr. Dynamic’ returned and would make amends in front of his home crowd. Showing a mental fortitude that belied his age, Williams came up against the best from this continent and won a silver medal at the South America Youth Championships.
His hard work paid off and he was selected by the Athletics Association of Guyana (AAG) along with jumper Chantoba Bright to represent Guyana in Kenya.
Williams repaid the association’s faith by capturing only the second World U-18 medal for Guyana at the Championships.
The next few years will be the defining in Williams’ life as an athlete as he seeks to make the step from a junior athlete to the senior level and ultimately a professional.
He has already proven he has what it takes at the highest junior level and the onus is now on the Government of Guyana, the AAG and the Guyana Olympic Association (GOA) to nurture and afford this son of the soil every possible opportunity to develop to his full potential.