TOKYO, Japan — Metro Atlanta native and UGA Bulldog Kendell Williams is one event away from capturing a medal in the rigorous heptathlon at the Tokyo Olympics.
Williams will be competing in the 800m race Thursday morning, the seventh and final of the seven disciplines that make up the single heptathlon event - 100m hurdles, high jump, shot put, 200m, long jump, and javelin make up the rest of the disciplines.
Williams will be setting her 800m time in the second of two heats, set to begin at 8:30 a.m. You can watch her race here.
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She enters the final discipline in third place overall, with a total score of 5,642 points. She excelled in the 100m hurdles with the best time among all competitors, tied for eighth in the high jump, struggled to a 22nd-place finish in the shot put, but then recovered nicely to get back into medal contention with a fifth-place finish in the 200 meters and second-place finish in the long jump.
After finishing seventh in the javelin throw, Williams is well-placed to race for a medal in the 800 meters. Overall, she currently trails Anouk Vetter of the Netherlands, who has 5,848 points, and Nafissatou Thiam of Belgium in first place with 5,912 points.
Williams calls Kennesaw home and went to Kell High School in Marietta before joining the celebrated Bulldogs track program at UGA.
The Tokyo Games represent her second shot at the Olympics - she also competed in Rio in 2016, finishing 17th in the heptathlon.