Jodie Williams voted women’s 2011 European Athletics Rising Star

British sprint sensation Jodie Williams is the 2011
winner of the women’s European Athletics Rising Star award presented by
MONDO.

The world junior champion burned up the track in
the women’s 100m final at the European Athletics Junior Championships in
Tallinn in July to take gold in 11.18, a championships record by three
hundredths of a second and a national junior record for the teenager.

Just
24 hours after taking the 100m title, she powered to the 200m gold in a
season’s best 22.94. The 18-year-old capped the event by anchoring the
Great Britain and NI 4x100m relay team to a bronze medal at the Kadriorg
Stadium in the Estonian capital.

Williams has already amassed an
impressive collection of titles, including world youth, world junior
and now a European junior title not won by a Briton since Sonia Lannaman
38 years ago. 

Earlier this year, in March, Williams came
agonisingly close to a surprise medal on her senior debut at the
European Athletics Indoor Championships in Paris, finishing fourth in
the 60 metres, just one hundredth of a second behind bronze medallist
Ezinne Okparaebo of Norway.

Williams will be presented with her
European Athletics Rising Star award at the European Athletics Awards
Night in Arona, Spain, on Saturday 15 October alongside the men’s Rising
Star winner David Storl of Germany, and the European Athlete of the
Year winners.

The men’s and women’s winners of the European Athlete of the Year will be announced next week.

Fans,
media and European Athletics Member Federations were invited to vote
for the European Athletics Rising Star on the European Athletics
website. Along with the votes from a panel of experts, each group of
voters’ results counted for one quarter of the athlete’s final score.

The
shortlist for the award included stars from this year’s World
Championships, European under-23 and junior championships, World Youth
Championships, and other young athletes who performed exceptionally well
this year.

No athlete who has previously served a two-year doping ban can be nominated for the European Athletics Rising Star award.

Women’s 2011 European Athletics Rising Star presented by MONDO final rankings:

1.       Jodie Williams (GBR)
2.       Dafne Schippers (NED)
3.       Darya Klishina (RUS)
4.       Angelica Bengtsson (SWE)
5.       Maria Kuchina (RUS)
6.       Amela Terzic (SRB)
7.       Gesa Felicitas Krause (GER)
8.       Christin Hussong (GER)
9.       Kate Veale (IRL)
10.   Yelena Arzhakova (RUS)
11.   Layesh Abdullayeva (AZE)
12.   Bianca Perie (ROU)
13.   Charlotte Purdue (GBR)
14.   Elena Lashmanova (RUS)
15.   Barbara Spiler (SLO)

Previous women’s Rising Star winners:

2010 Sandra Perkovic (CRO)
2009 Karoline Bjerkeli Grøvdal (NOR)
2008 Stephanie Twell (GBR)
2007 Jessica Ennis (GBR)

Personal bests: Jodie Williams

Outdoor:

100m – 11.18 Tallinn Jul 2011

200m – 22.79 Loughborough 23 May 2010

Indoor:  

60m: 7.21 Paris 5 Mar 2011

2011 season: Jodie Williams

60 m

100 m

200 m

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