Williams won’t join Fraser-Pryce and Thompson on 4x100-meter relay this week in Peru in order to heal in advance of teaming with Olympic and World Championship gold medalists in Doha

By Todd Grasley for DyeStat

When the track and field portion of the 18th Pan American Games kick off Tuesday at Athletic Stadium in Lima, Peru,  one global standout will be noticeably absent from the competition.

Jamaican sprinter Briana Williams, who made her first senior national team after finishing third in the 100-meter dash June 21 at the Jamaican Championships, was slated to run on the 4x100-meter relay. According to her coach, Trinidad and Tobago Olympian and NBC analyst Ato Boldon, she will be in attendance, but not racing.

“She had some minor injury issues at Pan Am Juniors that I felt warranted me shutting her down until it’s time for the show,” Boldon said. “The show is Doha (and the IAAF World Championships). That’s the focus now.”

Williams, 17, is in the midst of a phenomenal season that has seen her drop her 100-meter personal best to a wind-legal 10.94 seconds, setting national high school, Jamaican U-20 and World U-18 records.

At the Jamaican Championships, only Olympic and World Championship gold medalists Elaine Thompson and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce ran faster than Williams, clocking the top two times in the world this year at 10.726 and 10.729.

Both Thompson and Fraser-Pryce will be competing in Lima, but will be without Williams and fourth-place finisher Jonielle Smith, who is also injured and out indefinitely as well.

Despite not competing, Boldon believes the experience of being with her World Championship teammates, building that bond, and taking in a senior-level event, will benefit Williams.

“It’s her first trip with the senior team, so she’s having to bond and make friends with new people, but these are her future teammates for a long time to come,” Boldon said.

After leaving Lima, it will be back to South Florida for Williams, who won gold medals in the 100 and 200 at last summer’s IAAF World U-20 Championships in Finland. She will start her senior year at Northeast High and continue to prepare for the largest stage in her track and field career in late September and early October.

“She’s back to school in mid-August,” Boldon said. “She’ll have to balance both school and practice. It’s kind of weird, but we had laughed all year about how she started the season a junior and will end it as a senior.”