Lauryn Williams was seeking to retain her 100m title at the 2007 World Championships in Osaka. Yet in one of the closest 100m finals in history, the diminutive US sprinter just missed out on gold by a fraction.
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&ldquo;Leading into the 2007 World Championships in Osaka I&rsquo;d had quite a few injury issues. I&rsquo;d missed quite a bit of the 2006 season with a hamstring problem and even though I went to see several different specialists they couldn&rsquo;t diagnose the problem. It was strange in that some days I was in excruciating pain while on other days I could complete a workout, only to be unable to walk a couple of hours later. In 2007 I received some treatment and the problem improved only for it to head in the wrong direction again. I competed at the US Championships with no clue as to what was about to happen, although, fortunately, I qualified for Osaka (Williams finished second in the 100m final behind Torri Edwards).
&ldquo;Even after I qualified the injury &ndash; which was like a tingling sensation down the leg &ndash; persisted. It sent waves of pain through the rest of my body and would shoot up and down the leg. Just seven days out before the World Championships I considered pulling out because I thought, what if I wake up on the morning of the race and can&rsquo;t run? But after some consideration I decided to run. I thought I had earned my position on the team. I was training in Osaka and I had to have faith that I could defend my title.
&ldquo;I managed to reach the final without any major dramas and once on the start line with the seven other girls in the final, I was in the race to win.
&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t have too many memories of the race, but that is not unusual for me. I never really ran throughout my career with any real awareness. So, when I crossed the finish line I did not know where I had finished. (Note, in an incredibly close final Jamaica&rsquo;s Veronica Campbell-Brown and Lauryn Williams were awarded the same time of 11.01 with Carmelita Jeter 0.01 further back in third).&nbsp; At first Veronica&rsquo;s name flashed up on the scoreboard and then my name went up as the winner for about two minutes before switching back to Veronica. We then had to wait about 30 minutes following the protests for Veronica to be confirmed as the gold medallist.
&ldquo;It is hard to describe my emotions at that time. My mind was swirling and whirling. At first it was like I was second and then, wow, I&rsquo;ve pulled this off to no, I didn&rsquo;t. Well, at least I got a medal.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I think that moment for me was more about what I&rsquo;d conquered all season long to reach that point. In that moment, I did not feel it was about the winning or losing and, for me, that is one of the greatest experiences you can have as an athlete. We often remind ourselves of the importance of winning, but at the time, even though there was a lot of hullabaloo and controversy surrounding the result, because of the season that I endured I had won that day.&rdquo;
Steve Landells for the IAAF&nbsp;

Lauryn Williams was seeking to retain her 100m title at the 2007 World Championships in Osaka. Yet in one of the closest 100m finals in history, the diminutive US sprinter just missed out on gold by a fraction.

That moment when… Williams won and then lost the 2007 World Championships 100m final

In our lead-in to the IAAF/BTC World Relays Bahamas 2017, set for Nassau on 22-23 April, we ask 2005 world 100m champion, two-time world 4x100m champion and 2012 Olympic 4x100m champion Lauryn Williams to run the rule over her all-time greatest women&rsquo;s 4x100m quartet from history.
<h3>First leg: Evelyn Ashford (USA)</h3>
1984 Olympic 100m champion and three-time Olympic 4x100m gold medallist
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USA's Evelyn Ashford in the 4x100m at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul</div>
 Evelyn would be a great person to run first leg. She has a great start and would have the confidence to lead off the team. Her short legs will help navigate the turns better and ensure my team will make a great start.
If you have ever met Evelyn, she has a swagger, almost a royal air. She is an all-round good person, who brings a real positive energy to the team, which I think is super-important for relays. I&rsquo;ve learned the lesson in the past of running relays alongside athletes with poor energy. You can have the fastest runners in the world, but if they have poor energy, things just don&rsquo;t go well. Evelyn would get things done on the first leg.
<h3>Second leg: Wilma Rudolph (USA)</h3>
1960 Olympic 100m, 200m and 4x100m champion
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USA's Wilma Rudolph on her way to winning the 4x100m at the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome</div>
 I&rsquo;ve admired Wilma Rudolph since I first picked her as my topic to study at school as a youngster. She is part of black history and the person who forged the way for so many black athletes, such as myself, who followed.
I would pick her to run leg two because her long legs would open up and power down that back stretch. If you consider how fast she could run back then with the limited technological resources available to her with the benefits of today&rsquo;s tracks, coaching and sports science, she&rsquo;d definitely be the fastest woman in the world.
<h3>Third leg: Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (JAM)</h3>
Two-time Olympic 100m champion and three-time 4x100m world champion&nbsp; 
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Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce takes the baton in the 4x100m at the IAAF World Championships Beijing 2015</div>
 Shelly-Ann often runs first leg but I have faith in her ability to take two hand-offs. I often say the third leg is a really important part of the race. Many races are won or lost on the third leg. This is where you can open up a gap wide enough to set up the race to win, or if you bomb it, this then puts real pressure on your anchor leg runner.
Shelly-Ann has a great turnover and I don&rsquo;t think anyone can match her. She can run an awesome 100m and 200m and would navigate the turn well.
<h3>Fourth leg: Christine Arron (FRA)</h3>
European 100m record-holder and 2003 world 4x100m champion
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Christine Arron anchors France to 4x100m gold at the 2003 IAAF World Championships in Paris</div>
 I call Christine Arron the &lsquo;European Allyson Felix&rsquo; because, like Allyson, she drops a deadly bomb and then walks off with a smile. She is like the friendly assassin. She is a such a graceful runner and looks so effortless when she sprints.
For three seasons, it was Christine, myself and Veronica Campbell-Brown playing musical chairs every race. To be a good fourth leg runner, you have to maintain poise even under pressure and Christine can do this. We know she has the endurance and the speed, but sometimes you have to dig deeper and she has that ability.
Steve Landells for the IAAF

In our lead-in to the IAAF/BTC World Relays Bahamas 2017, set for Nassau on 22-23 April, we ask 2005 world 100m champion, two-time world 4x100m champion and 2012 Olympic 4x100m champion Lauryn Williams to run the rule over her all-time greatest women’s 4x100m quartet from history.

My dream relay team – Lauryn Williams

- Read on for English and French language versions of this story - La traduction française suit le texte anglaisUSA’s 2005 world 100m champion Lauryn Williams made history at the Winter Olympics in Sochi today (19) by becoming the first Olympic athletics gold medallist to win a medal at the Winter Games.Williams, who took 4x100m gold at the London 2012 Olympic Games, has focused on the bobsleigh over the winter and made it on to the US team for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.Paired with driver Elana Meyers in the two-woman bobsled, Williams held pole position overnight after setting a track record on their first slide and a start record on their second slide.They maintained their lead after today’s third heat and despite taking a few knocks on their final run, Williams and Meyers held on to a medal position and took silver, just 0.10 behind the victorious Canadian team.Only four other people in history have won medals at both the Summer and Winter Olympics. USA’s Eddie Eagan is the only person to have won gold at both Games, winning the light heavyweight boxing title at the 1920 Summer Games, followed by gold in the four-man bobsled at the 1932 Winter Games.Two other women – Christa Luding and Clara Hughes – have won summer and winter Olympic medals, both specialising in cycling and speed skating. But Williams is the first US woman to achieve the feat.Williams wasn’t the only former athlete in the two-woman bobsleigh in Sochi. Former world 400m hurdles champion Jana Pittman was on the Australian team, while two-time world indoor 60m hurdles champion Lolo Jones featured on the third US team.Sprinter Hanna Marien, part of the silver medal-winning 4x100m team at the 2008 Olympics, was on the Belgian team and former Dutch 100m hurdles champion Judith Vis finished outside the medals in fourth.Four of the six medallists came from a track and field background. The bronze medal-winning US team comprised former 17.08m shot putter Aja Evans and 5465 heptathlete Jamie Greubel, while Canadian gold medallist Heather Moyse is a talented sprinter.Jon Mulkeen for the IAAF*****Lauryn Williams entre dans l'histoire olympique à Sotchi
Lauryn
 Williams, championne du monde du 100m en 2005, est entrée dans les 
annales aujourd'hui (19) aux Jeux olympiques d'hiver de Sotchi 
lorsqu'elle
 est devenue la première championne olympique d'athlétisme à monter sur 
un podium aux Jeux d'hiver.
Williams,
 championne olympique du 4x100m lors de Londres 2012, s'est concentrée 
sur le bobsleigh lors des mois d'hiver et s'est qualifiée pour
 la sélection des États-Unis pour le bobsleigh à deux féminin aux Jeux 
olympiques d'hiver 2014 de Sotchi.Williams
 et sa coéquipière, la pilote Elana Meyers, tenaient la pole position au
 terme de la première journée, ayant établi le record de la
 piste lors de leur première descente ainsi qu'un record au départ lors 
de leur seconde descente.Elles
 ont conservé&nbsp; leur avance après le troisième tour aujourd'hui et, 
malgré&nbsp;quelques heurts lors de leur ultime descente, elles ont décroché
 la médaille d'argent, à tout juste un dixième de seconde de l'équipe 
canadienne victorieuse.
Seulement
 quatre autres sportifs dans l'histoire ont remporté&nbsp;des médailles tant 
aux Jeux olympiques d'été que d'hiver. Eddie Eagan (USA) est
 le seul à avoir été sacré champion olympique dans les deux 
compétitions, médaillé d'or de boxe (poids mi-lourds) aux Jeux d'été de 
1920, il a ensuite été champion olympique dans le bobsleigh à quatre 
masculin aux Jeux d'hiver de 1932.
Deux
 autres femmes –&nbsp;Christa Luding et Clara Hughes – ont gagné des 
médailles aux Jeux d'été et d'hiver, toutes deux dans les disciplines du
 cyclisme et du patinage de vitesse. Williams est la première 
représentante des États-Unis à réussir cet exploit.
Williams
 n'était au demeurant pas la seule ex-athlète à concourir dans le 
bobsleigh à deux à Sotchi. L'ancienne championne du monde du 400m
 haies Jana Pittman concourait pour l'Australie, tandis que la double 
championne mondiale en salle du 60m haies, Lolo Jones, faisait partie de
 la troisième équipe américaine.
La
 sprinteuse Hanna Marien, médaillée d'argent du 4x100m aux Jeux 
olympiques 2008, faisait partie de l'équipe belge, tandis que l'ancienne
 championne
 néerlandaise du 100m haies Judith Vis a terminé quatrième. Quatre
 des six médaillées du bobsleigh à deux de Sotchi sont des transfuges de
 l'athlétisme. L'équipe américaine qui a remporté la médaille
 de bronze, comprenait l'ancienne lanceuse de poids Aja Evans (17,08m) 
et l'heptathlète Jamie Greubel (RP 5465 points), tandis que la médaillée
 d'or canadienne, Heather Moyse, est une sprinteuse de grand talent.
Jon Mulkeen pour l'IAAF

USA’s 2005 world 100m champion Lauryn Williams made history at the Winter Olympics in Sochi today (19) by becoming the first Olympic athletics gold medallist to win a medal at the Winter Games.

Lauryn Williams makes Olympic history in Sochi

The 18th episode of IAAF Inside Athletics is available to watch <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqldNFwzjbc" target="_blank">watch online now</a>.In this week's episode, Ato Boldon talks exclusively to US sprinter and 2005 world 100m champion Lauryn Williams.<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/RqldNFwzjbc?rel=0&amp;showinfo=0" width="500"></iframe>Launched earlier this year,&nbsp;IAAF Inside Athletics&nbsp;is hosted by Boldon, Trinidad &amp; Tobago&rsquo;s 1997 world 200m champion, who is now a respected television broadcast analyst for ESPN and NBC.Exclusive to the IAAF, fans can interact and ask questions, either on&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/WorldAthleticsClub" target="_blank">Facebook</a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://twitter.com/InsideATH" target="_blank">Twitter</a>, or by sending an email to:<a href="mailto:insideathletics@iaaf.org" target="_blank">insideathletics@iaaf.org</a>.If you enjoyed any of the previous episodes of&nbsp;IAAF Inside Athletics, then click &lsquo;like&rsquo; on the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/WorldAthleticsClub" target="_blank">IAAF World Athletics Club Page on Facebook </a>and follow the show on Twitter&nbsp;<a href="http://twitter.com/InsideATH" target="_blank">@InsideATH</a>.

IAAF Inside Athletics – Lauryn Williams

The 19th episode of IAAF Inside Athletics is available to watch online now.

The annual IAAF World Challenge de Dakar meeting in Senegal saw the top honours going to Ethiopian distance runner Almaz Ayana as well as long jumpers Eusebio Caceres and Bianca Stuart on Wednesday (12).Ayana, better known as a steeplechaser, dominated the women&rsquo;s 3000m and reduced her personal best by almost six seconds with a time of 8:44.30 as she won by almost 20 seconds and posted the second-fastest time in the world this year.Caceres, a two-time IAAF World Junior Championships medallist, flew out to 8.20m and the Spaniard maintained his good run of form after winning at the IAAF World Challenge meeting in Rabat, Morocco with 8.22m on Sunday.In a close contest, Greece&rsquo;s Yeoryios Tsakonas was second with 8.17m.Bahamas&rsquo; Bianca Stuart won the women&rsquo;s Long Jump with 6.73m, just eight centimetres short of her national record set two years ago.There were good wins for two Kenyans runners in the men&rsquo;s middle distance races. Ferguson Rotich won the 800m in a personal best of 1:45.40, coming home ahead of his compatriot Anthony Chemut who was second in 1:45.43, while Daniel Kipchirch Komen won the 1500m in 3:35.15, with Ethiopia&rsquo;s Tesfaye Cheru second in a personal best of 3:35.67.Botswana&rsquo;s Kabelo Kgosiemang won the High Jump with 2.25m, getting the verdict on on count back from Italy&rsquo;s Marco Fassinotti who cleared the same height.Hanne provide home happinessAfter his personal best of 48.56 at the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Rome last week, Senegal&rsquo;s Mamadou Kasse Hanne again went under 49 seconds in the 400m Hurdles and provided the one domestic win of the evening when he crossed the line in 48.99.Ukraine&rsquo;s Hanna Titimets won the women&rsquo;s 400m Hurdles in 56.33 while Jamaica&rsquo;s Patricia Hall lead the way over one lap without the barriers to win in 52.23.St Kitts&rsquo; former World champion Kim Collins won the 100m in a windy 10.04 with Morocco Aziz Ouhadi second in 10.12 while another former World champion, USA&rsquo;s Lauryn Williams, won the women&rsquo;s 100m in 11.26, this time with a legal wind on her back.In the throws, South Africa&rsquo;s Orazio Cremona won a tight Shot Put contest with a distance of 20.32m, winning by 10cm from Portugal&rsquo;s Marco Fortes.Germany&rsquo;s Sabine Rumpf threw 59.38m to win the women&rsquo;s Discus while Sweden&rsquo;s Tracey Andersson was the best in the women&rsquo;s Hammer with 67.48m.Unfortunately, both the advertised headline acts did not make it to Dakar.Botswana&rsquo;s current 400m World champion Amantle Montsho, who is unbeaten in 2013, was delayed at home after attending the Botswana National Sport Council awards night in Gabrone last weekend.Algeria&rsquo;s London 2012 Olympic Games 1500m champion Taoufik Makhloufi also didn&rsquo;t make it after suffering from flu earlier in the week.Phil Minshull for the IAAF

Ayana, Caceres and Stuart produce top marks in Dakar - IAAF World Challenge

The annual IAAF World Challenge de Dakar meeting in Senegal saw the top honours going to Ethiopian distance runner Almaz Ayana as well as long jumpers Eusebio Caceres and Bianca Stuart on Wednesday (12).

The 6th edition of the Meeting Mohammed VI in the Moroccan capital Rabat, an IAAF World Challenge meeting,should be able to boast of a number of impressive track events on Sunday (9). Ethiopian 800m runner Mohammed Aman will be looking to improve on his world-leading time of 1:43.61, set when winning in convincing fashion at the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Rome on Thursday night.Another man to hop straight on a plane from the Italian capital is US sprinter Justin Gatlin, fresh from providing the upset of the night at the Golden Gala when he defeated Usain Bolt.The 2004 Olympic 100m champion and London 2012 Olympic Games bronze medallist will face St Kitts’ 2003 World champion Kim Collins over 100m, who actually lead Thursday’s thrilling race at the halfway&nbsp; point, as well as France’s Christophe Lemaitre, Jamaica’s Michael Frater &nbsp;and Morocco’s 100m and 200m record holder Aziz Ouhadi.Another US winner in Athens nine years ago, Jeremy Wariner, is up against the man who succeeded him as Olympic champion LaShawn Merrrit. The latter has been in good form but Wariner, the two-time World 400m champion, will be looking to improve on modest start to the season and go faster than his 2013 best of 45.35.Morocco’s solitary medallist from last year’s Olympic Games, 1500m bronze medallist Abdelaati Iguider, will get plenty of cheers when he runs in his specialist event.In women’s 100m, Jamaica’s Kerron Stewart will face the USA’s 205 World champion Lauryn Williams as well as Germany’s 2010 European champion Verena Sailer and the in-form US sprinter Lekeisha Lawson. Chandra Sturrup’s meeting record of 11.14, from 2010, could be under threat.There are also some good names in the field events, which could lead to some excellent meeting records being posted.Ukraine high jumper Bohdan Bondarenko has already cleared 2.33m twice this season. He faces Russia’s 2011 World Championships silver medallist Aleksey Dmitrik along with France’s Mickael Hanany and Czech Republic’s Jaroslav Baba.In the Long Jump, Greek record holder Louis Tsatoumas will face South Africa’s former World Indoor Championships winner Godfrey Khotso Mokoena.Spain’s Mario Pestano takes on and Turkish record holder Ercument Olgundeniz&nbsp; in the Discus favorites. In the women’s Triple Jump, Ukraine’s Hanna Knyazeva is the top name and faces Italy’s former European indoor champion Simona La Mantia while a good quality Javelin sees 2012 Olympic Games bronze medallist Linda Stahl against the improving Latvian Sinta Ozolina-Kovala and South Africa’s 2011 World Championships bronze medallist Sunette Viljoen.Mohamed Bencherif for the IAAF

Aman, Gatlin and Merritt among ths stars in Rabat - IAAF World Challenge

Aman, Gatlin and Merritt among the stars in Rabat - IAAF World Challenge

The 6th edition of the Meeting Mohammed VI in the Moroccan capital Rabat, an IAAF World Challenge meeting,should be able to boast of a number of impressive track events on Sunday (9). 