



UPDATE, Friday, September 27:

Williams has announced she's withdrawn from the IAAF World Track and Field Championships on Facebook.





UPDATE, Thursday, September 26:

Ato Boldon has confirmed that Briana Williams has been cleared to run at the IAAF World Track and Field Championships in Doha, Qatar, from September 27-October 6.

The 17-year-old Jamaican sprint starlet, who is coached by Boldon, met for two days with officials of the Anti-Doping Disciplinary Panel in late September -- just days ahead of athletes leaving the country -- to discuss her failed doping test following the Jamaican Senior Track and Field Championships in June.

Williams had been named to the senior team pending a clearance of her case.

She ran a wind-legal 10.94 seconds for 100 meters to set a new World U18 (and National High School) Record on June 21-23, finishing third and booking a trip to the World Championships. But she tested positive for the diuretic hydrochlorothiazide following the meet.

In ensuing weeks, Williams' legal team battled the positive test, saying it was an over-the-counter tablet she took prior to the meet to combat the flu. She labeled the OTC drug in her protocol at the Championships.

This week, according to a recent report by The Star and confirmed by Boldon, Williams was "reprimanded with no period of ineligibility."

In a statement released by the IADP, according to The Jamaican Star, "The IADP is unanimously persuaded to the standard of proof that the athlete, Miss Briana Williams, was in breach of article 2.1 of the 2015 Anti-Doping Rules as she had in her body a specified substance named 'HCTZ.'

"The IADP finds that the athlete has established no significant fault or negligence as she was given tablets by her guardian and had no intention to cheat in her In-Competition sprint event on June 21, 2019. The IADP was referred to article 10.5.1.1 of the Anti-Doping In Sport Rules and this is relied on its findings."

Williams was recommended to an educational program on anti-doping rules.

In qualifying for worlds in the 100m, Boldon confirmed to MileSplit earlier this year, Williams will become the youngest female athlete to compete in an individual event at the senior level in the country's history -- not including the Olympics.

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Update, September 11: Briana Williams is on Jamaica's Worlds team. On Wednesday, the 17-year-old was selected for the Senior team in the 100m and 4x100m pool ahead of the IAAF World Championship in Doha, Qatar from Sept. 27-Oct. 6, pending a successful outcome of her meeting with the Independent Anti-doping Disciplinary Panel on Sept. 23-25. See our Tuesday update below.



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September 10 -- Briana Williams' road to the World Championships might be coming to an end, after all.

The 17-year-old sprinter met with anti-doping officials on Tuesday in Jamaica after she tested positive for a banned diuretic following the National Championships in June, and officials decided she would have to face a larger proceeding by the Independent Anti-Doping Disciplinary Panel (IADP) from September 23-25, The Gleaner reported.

That meeting will take place after Jamaica has officially named its senior team for Worlds. Those decisions are expected to come this week -- which means Williams may be out of Worlds.

This is proving to be the toughest stretch of the high schooler's career yet.

After hitting what was then a new World Junior Record of 10.94 seconds for 100 meters at the Jamaican Senior Championships -- which qualified her the IAAF World Championships in Doha, Qatar -- she later found out she had tested positive for the substance Hydrochlorothiazide.

Prior to the meet her team had claimed in her drug protocol form that she had taken an over-the-counter pill medicine to help combat the flu.

Williams and her team strongly denied she knowingly took the substance.

Williams' attorney later scored an expedited hearing from anti-doping officials with the intention of clearing Williams and giving the young sprinter an opportunity to compete for the Jamaican senior team for the first time in her career.









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