The hunt for gold

• Williams-Mills looks to learn from '09 WCA disappointment

Gordon Williams, Gleaner Writer

If Novlene Williams-Mills learned nothing else in a failed bid to repeat as a medallist in her pet event at the last IAAF World Championships in Athletics (WCA), the Jamaican understands that to retreat is to surrender.

All three medallists in the 2009 WCA women's 400 metres final - winner Sanya Richards of the United States, second-place Shericka Williams of Jamaica and Antonina Krivoshapka of Russia - started in lanes immediately inside her own.

Lanes three, four and five finished first, second and third that mid-August evening in Berlin, Germany. The mistake left Williams-Mills on the outside of the medal dream looking in.

"Being on the curve in lane six, the people that were behind me, those are the ones who have the medals," Williams-Mills recalled when she turned up to run a leg on Jamaica's 4x400 metres team at the recent Penn Relays in the US.

"So when you see them get off the turn, you know they're already ahead of you. You try to do too much work to try to catch them back.

"I think I was just supposed to be more aggressive going into (the turn) than trying to back off."

It's early days yet, but if the May 7 Jamaica International Invitational (JII) is any indication, Berlin's lesson stuck. Williams-Mills went out hard. When the runners hit the straight, the St Ann native was in front, cruising to win in 50.71 seconds. Among the trailers was the reigning WCA champion, now Richards-Ross, who finished fifth in 51.62.

While the JII proved aggression paid off for Williams-Mills, her cupboard of accolades was hardly bare. In addition to the 400 metres individual bronze she captured at WCA 2007 and the 2006 Commonwealth Games, she counts 4x400 relay medals, including multiple WCA silver and Olympic Games silver and bronze.

Yet, the 29-year-old yearns to stand alone on the top podium at either the WCA or Olympics. Williams-Mills is desperate to atone.

"OK, this World Championships I'm not gonna say I'm gonna put a lot of pressure on myself," she explained. "... (But) I think I've reached the point where I have to get it done - get this gold medal that I want so bad.

"I'm not getting younger, I know very soon ... I have to step away from the sport to do something else."

Until then, Williams-Mills, who has studied commercial recreation and hospital management at the University of Florida, is spinning disappointment, including WCA 2009 and the death of her oldest sister, Dawn, last year, which cut short her 2010 season, into positive fuel.

"That's something that motivates me, you know, every day, to go out there and train," she said.

BRIGHT START

This season has started brightly, including a February win at the British Indoor Grand Prix in Birmingham, and the JII victory. But Williams-Mills knows it will take her best-ever effort to win gold at the WCA in Daegu, South Korea, or 2012 Olympics in London.

Jamaica-born Richards-Ross is on track to defend her WCA title.

"The only thing now for me to do is start racing and get race-sharp again," Richards-Ross, who has recovered from an injury-plagued 2010, said a week before opening her season at the JII.

US teammate Allyson Felix, a dangerous quarter-miler despite winning three WCA titles in the half-lap event, is serious about attempting the 200 and 400 in Daegu.

"As far as the Worlds, definitely the double is very possible," Felix, who has a personal record (PR) of 49.7, announced at 'Penns'. On May 6 she clocked 50.33 to win a Diamond League meet in Doha.

Several other Jamaicans, including Williams, plus a number of Europeans and Americans, like Jamaica-born Debbie Dunn, are also in the hunt. Reigning Olympic and 2007 WCA champion Christine Ohuruogu of Great Britain, who finished fifth at WCA 2009, is still a threat. But Williams-Mills is confident.

"I know I can win," she said.

Yet, she admitted, "In order to get a medal, in order to win, I have to run better than my PR, which is 49.63."

Richards-Ross ran 49-flat to win in Berlin. Her PR is 48.70.

What Williams-Mills desperately wants to avoid is a repeat of WCA 2009. She has played the final over in her mind, wondering "what caused it ... what can you do different?" She even wished she had finished worse than fourth, a place just too close to a coveted medal.

"Every time I look at it I'm like 'fourth'?" she said laughing. "You know, you take it, but I'd rather be fifth than fourth."

Now it's time to move beyond disappointment.

"You have to let it go," said Williams-Mills, who has shaken off a quadriceps injury.

"If you let that antagonise you, then you're not gonna get anywhere."

She conceded she may not have the natural speed of her main rivals, but Williams-Mills is banking on strength - physical and mental - to pull through.

At WCA 2011, the 400 heats, semi-finals and final will be run over three consecutive days. In 2009 there was a day off, after two days of heats and semis, before the final. The revised format could work in Williams-Mills' favour.

"We're gonna see who can manage those three days back to back," she said smiling. "... It's gonna be a test."

Armed with the lessons of Berlin, it's one Williams-Mills is ready to take.