Jodie Williams says junior events bring greatest pressure

Teenage Great Britain sprinter Jodie Williams claims junior competition is more daunting than running in senior events.

The 17-year-old recently set a new British 100m junior record time of 11.18 seconds at the European Junior Championships in Estonia.

"At a junior competition I feel much more pressure because I'm expected to step up and perform," she said.

Williams made her senior debut at the European Indoor Championships in March.

"I felt less pressure at the European Indoors because nothing was really expected of me. I was just there to do the best that I could," she told BBC Sport.

Williams, who said she was pleased to have her name "written in history" after breaking the national 100m junior record, was the first British woman to claim the title for 38 years.

She told BBC Sport: "It wasn't expected. I haven't been running particularly fast all year.

"But when I was running in the final it felt absolutely perfect."

The Hertfordshire athlete then went on to claim the 200m title running 22.94sec.

Amongst their total of 15 medals at the championships, Britain won six golds - two of which were secured by Williams, who missed out on a 60m medal in her debut senior competiton, the European Indoor Championships, by one hundredth of a second.

Williams's widely-publicised decision not to run at next month's senior World Championships, despite impressive performances at the UK Indoor Trials and European Indoors, was criticised by UK Athletics head coach Charles van Commenee.

But Williams is confident a lack of senior championship experience will not be a problem if she is selected for next summer's Olympics in London.

"Most of my races this year have been senior races within Britain, so I've been getting a feel for it," the A-level student said.

"I'm hoping to do the 100m [at the Olympics] so I need to get my time down if I'm going to get anywhere.

"Hopefully I can go and there wont be too much pressure so I can enjoy it.

"I'm not expecting much, I'm hoping to go for the experience and get as far as I can."