Jamaican sprinter Briana Williams, 17, has entered into a multi-year contract with the prestigious sports brand Nike. The contract follows Williams’ outstanding year of excellent performances in 2019. The terms of the deal remain unknown at this time. Williams, who will turn 18 in March 2020, has been identified as one of the rising star track and field athletes in Jamaica. She was the winner of sprint doubles at the World U20 Championships in 2018 and was approached by numerous shoe firms, including PUMA, but ultimately, Williams decided to sign with Nike. Williams is a senior at Oakland Park Northeast High School and is based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Williams broke the 100-meter national high school record in June of 2019 during Jamaica’s senior Track and Field Championships. She has since turned pro.

Williams’ coach since 2015 has been Ato Boldon, a track and field analyst with NBC and a winner of four Olympic medals for Trinidad and Tobago. Commenting on the deal with Nike, Williams stated that it will give her a platform through which to pursue her dreams, noting that she was proud about her career progress to date and calling the Nike contract a “big deal” for her that allows her to show the world her capabilities. The Nike deal follows Williams’ outstanding year in 2019 when she won the 100-meter event at the NACAC U18 Championships and the Pan Am U20 Championships. She also received the Austin Sealy Award at the CARIFTA Games for the second consecutive year after achieving three gold medals in a performance that duplicated that of 2018. Williams set a Jamaican junior record in 2019 in the event with a time of 11:02 seconds. Following a reprimand from the Anti-Doping Disciplinary Panel in September 2019, she was cleared for future competition, but due to scheduling limits was unable to compete in the 2019 World Championships.