Lauren Williams: Olympic silver winner targets first World Championship medal

Olympic silver medallist Lauren Williams is aiming for a first World Championship medal at this year's competition in Azerbaijan.

Williams, 24, is looking to add another major medal to the silver she won at the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2021.

Despite the high expectations, Williams insists she's focused on "taking the pressure off" and "enjoying the process".

"I've put more emphasis on the journey and enjoying that," said Williams.

"If I get get a gold medal at the end of that, then amazing.

"I know I'm more than capable of doing it, I've been there, I've done it, nearly!

"It's learning to enjoy the journey a bit more and take that pressure off."

Williams is part of an 11-strong British squad for the World Championships, which take place in Baku from 29 May - 4 June, along with double Olympic gold medallist Jade Jones.

The previous championships were held in November in Guadalajara, Mexico, the home country of the defending -67kg champion Leslie Soltero.

Soltero, 22, has been training at the National Taekwondo Centre in Manchester where Williams is based.

"I've fought her a few times this week, it's been great," Williams said.

"We've got the world bronze medallist from Brazil as well, so we've got very good talent in the gym at the moment and it's all great prep."

"I messed up [at the 2022 World Championships], so I'm excited to take the opportunity and hopefully put in a better performance than last time."

The Welsh taekwondo star has also shaken up her training by returning to work with her previous coach Steve Jennings.

"My old coach Mike [McKenzie] is phenomenal," said Williams. "He got me a silver at the Games and I think I've just parked that chapter.

"I felt like I needed something new, something fresh.

"I've been here a very long time so I needed to change things up a little bit and hopefully this change is positive going forward and can give me that edge I need to get the medals over the line.

"I've got new strategies and new targets to work on with my coach and I've been implementing that over this training camp, and so far, so good.

"Things are going well, fingers crossed."