• Athletics

Bolt record nearly beaten by GB sprinter at junior meet

Delano Williams won the 200m at the World Juniors last year © Getty Images

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Prospective Great Britain sprinter Delano Williams nearly broke Usain Bolt's ten year-old competition record in the 200 metres at the ISSA Boys and Girls Championships in Jamaica on Sunday.

Bolt, who made his name at the legendary Caribbean junior competition as a teenage sprinter, holds the event's 200m record at 20.25 seconds - but Williams almost broke it, running 20.27s as he took gold.

The 19-year-old also won the 100m and 4x400m in his class at the Kingston meeting, running 10.28s in the final of the former.

Williams is from Turks & Caicos, which does not have an Olympic committee. As a result he has decided to race for Great Britain at the Olympics - narrowly missing out on qualification for London 2012 after receiving his UK passport last April.

"I was really, really excited when I got the passport," Williams said at the time. "I felt, 'I'm a British citizen now'."

He added: "In order for me to compete at the Olympics I must go under the British because we are under British rule.

"They [Turks & Caicos officials] wouldn't want to stop my dream of going to the Olympics so they have made a decision to let me go and represent the UK at the Olympics. It will be a privilege to represent Great Britain at the Olympics."

Christian Malcolm and James Ellington beat Williams at the UK Trials last summer to snatch the two berths available for British 200m sprinters. Williams subsequently claimed 200m gold at last year's World Junior Championships, two days after British sprinter Adam Gemili had claimed the 100m crown in impressive fashion.

There were other eye-catching performances at 'The Champs' at the weekend, with 13-year-old Jhevaughan Matherson running 10.85s in the semi-finals of the boys' Class Three (10-13) 100m, while 15-year-old Michael O'Hara managed 10.49s in the next age group up.

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