Ivory Williams

Ivory Williams

Williams (in orange) in the starting blocks for the 150 meters street race. Usain Bolt (in yellow) set a world best of 14.35 seconds.[1]
Personal information
Nationality American
Born (1985-05-02) May 2, 1985
Beaumont, Texas
Height 5 ft 8 in (173 cm)
Weight 170 lb (77 kg)
Sport
Sport Running
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s)

100m: 9.93
200m: 20.62

400m: 46.25
Medal record
Men's athletics
Representing the  United States
World Junior Championships
2002 Kingston 4×100 m
2004 Grosseto 100 m
2004 Grosseto 4×100 m

Ivory Williams (born May 2, 1985) is an American sprint athlete who specializes in the 100 meters.

Born in Jefferson County, Texas, Williams attended Central High School in Beaumont, where he was a two-sport athlete. As a wide receiver and all-purpose back, he was ranked as the No. 40 football prospect in the state by Rivals.com.[2] In track and field, he competed at the 2002 United States Junior Championships, taking bronze in the 200 meters and finishing in fourth place in the 100 m.[3] In his senior season in 2003, Williams was unbeaten on the track.[4] His first major junior tournament was the 2004 World Junior Championships in Athletics. He produced a season's best of 10.29 seconds to win the 100 m event, beating favourite Abidemi Omole.[5] He followed this up with another gold medal in the 4×100 meters relay, setting a junior world record of 38.66 seconds with teammates Omole, Trell Kimmons, and LaShawn Merritt.[6]

In the 2008 season he won the 100 m at the Prefontaine Classic.[7] Shortly after, Williams broke the 10-second barrier for the first time, running a new 100 m personal best of 9.94 seconds in the quarter-finals of the 2008 US Olympic Trials.[8] The time made him the fifth fastest American in the 100 m that year, and ninth in the world rankings.[9] However, he failed to progress beyond the semi-finals: Williams was beaten into fifth place, and out of qualification, by Xavier Carter by just a thousandth of a second.[10][11]

He ran a personal best of 6.52 seconds in the 60 meters at the 2009 USA Indoor Track and Field Championships, reaching the final as the fastest qualifier.[12] However, he was disqualified in the final of the event for a false start.[13] At the USA vs. The World relay competition at the Penn Relays, Williams took second place in 38.36 with the US red team comprising Terrence Trammell, Mark Jelks, and Mike Rodgers.[14]

In May 2009, Williams took part in the 150 meters street race at the Great City Games in Manchester. He finished in third with a time of 15.08 seconds, behind Marlon Devonish and Usain Bolt (who ran a world best 14.35 seconds).[15] He reached the final of the US Championships but finished seventh, missing out on the 2009 World Championships in Athletics.[16] He recorded a new personal best the following month, running 9.93 seconds to win the 25th Vardinoyannia in Rethymno, Greece.[17][18]

Williams won the 60 m at the USA Indoor Track and Field Championships in 2010, running a world leading and personal record time of 6.49 seconds, which set him up as a favorite for the 2010 IAAF World Indoor Championships.[19] However, he was barred from competing at the championships after his sample from the US championships tested positive for Carboxy THC, a marijuana metabolite. He received a three-month suspension and his championship result was annulled.[20]

Personal bests

Event Time (seconds) Venue Date
60 meters 6.51 Boston, Massachusetts, United States February 6, 2010
100 meters 9.93 Rethymno, Greece July 20, 2009
200 meters 20.62 Houston, Texas, United States May 6, 2006
400 meters 46.25 Wichita, Kansas, United States April 16, 2005

References

  1. ↑ Video of the race on YouTube
  2. ↑ https://n.rivals.com/content/prospects/81491
  3. ↑ USA Junior Track & Field Championships. Flash Results. Retrieved on 2009-06-02.
  4. ↑ "Central grad Ivory Williams hopes his high school coach can help him reach Olympic dream". Beaumont Enterprise. July 5, 2012.
  5. ↑ Kiprop breaks Gebrselassie's Championships record as Howe's superb win thrills home crowd in Grosseto. IAAF (2009-07-14). Retrieved on 2009-06-02.
  6. ↑ Grosseto - Three World Junior records set in the space of 90 minutes. IAAF (2004-07-18). Retrieved on 2009-06-02.
  7. ↑ Lee, Kirby (2008-06-09). American record 6.04m for Walker - Mutola, Bekele other highlights - Prefontaine Classic REPORT. IAAF. Retrieved on 2009-06-02.
  8. ↑ Men 100 Meter Dash Results quarter-finals. USATF. Retrieved on 2009-06-02.
  9. ↑ 100 Metres 2008. IAAF (2009-04-10). Retrieved on 2009-06-02.
  10. ↑ Men 100 Meter Dash Results semi-finals. USATF. Retrieved on 2009-06-02.
  11. ↑ Litsky, Frank (2008-06-30). U.S. Track Trials: In a Thousandth of a Second, a Shot at Beijing. The New York Times. Retrieved on 2009-06-02.
  12. ↑ 2009 US Indoor TF Championships Men 60 Meter Dash - preliminaries. USATF. Retrieved on 2009-06-02.
  13. ↑ 2009 US Indoor TF Championships Men 60 Meter Dash - final. USATF. Retrieved on 2009-06-02.
  14. ↑ Team USA rises to the occasion at USA vs. The World. USATF (2009-04-25). Retrieved on 2009-06-02.
  15. ↑ Carl Markham and Mark Butler (2009-05-17). Bolt runs 14.35 sec for 150m; covers 50m-150m in 8.70 sec!. IAAF. Retrieved on 2009-06-02.
  16. ↑ Men 100 Meter Dash. USATF. Retrieved on 2009-07-22.
  17. ↑ Nikitaridis, Michalis (2009-07-21). Ferguson (22.32) and Jones (12.47) set world season leads in Rethymno. IAAF. Retrieved on 2009-07-22.
  18. ↑ LIVE RESULTS OF 25th VARDINOYANNIA. EAR. Retrieved on 2009-07-22.
  19. ↑ Patience proves a virtue for Ivory Williams. Reuters (2010-03-09). Retrieved on 2010-03-11.
  20. ↑ Ivory Williams ban boosts gold hopes for Dwain Chambers . BBC Sport (2010-03-10). Retrieved on 2010-03-10.
  21. ↑ "Williams, Ivory biography". IAAF. Retrieved 2009-11-05.
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