Bianca Williams

Bianca Williams (born 18 December 1993) is a British athlete. She won the silver medal in the women's 4 × 100 metres relay at the 2024 Summer Olympics.

She competed for England at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, where she won bronze medals in the 200 m, and in the 4 × 100 m relay. She has also won two medals as part of the British team at the IAAF World Relays; with silver in the 4 × 200 m in 2014, and bronze in the 4 × 100 m in 2015. She ranks fifth on the UK all-time list at 200 m with her best of 22.45 secs.

Williams was one of a series of British female youth sprinters to appear on the world stage in the 2010s , along with Jodie Williams, Ashleigh Nelson, Desirèe Henry, Dina Asher-Smith and Asha Philip, later supplemented in the 2020s by Daryll Neita, Imani Lansiquot and Amy Hunt. Predominantly a relay athlete, she paused her career to have her first child in 2020, aged 26. She returned a few years later in 2022 to renewed individual form, setting a lifetime best in her favoured event in 2023, and qualifying for the individual 200 metres at the 2024 Summer Olympics.

Domestically, Williams in 2025, at the age of 31, won her first national title, indoors over 60 metres.

In November 2023, Williams was named in the BBC's '' 100 Women'' list, which features 100 inspiring and influential women from around the world.

Career

In 2014, Williams won a bronze medal at the World Relays in the 4 × 200 m relay. In June, she ran a new 200 m personal best of 22.79 s in finishing second at the Golden Spike Ostrava. Williams competed at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, winning bronze medals in the 200 m and 4 × 100 m relay and finishing sixth in the 100 m. She also competed at the 2014 European Championships, finishing fourth over 200 m.

The following year, at the World Relays, Williams won a bronze medal at the 4 × 100 m relay. At the European Team Championships in Cheboksary, she finished second in the 200 m. In August, she competed at the World Championships in Beijing, making it to the semi-finals of the 200 m.

Williams won a silver medal in the 4 × 100 m relay at the 2016 European Championships. She competed at the 2017 World Championships in London, making the semi-finals of the 200 m.

In 2018, Williams reached the semi-finals of the 60 m World Indoor Championships in Birmingham, running a new personal best of 7.26 s. At the 2018 Commonwealth Games, held on the Gold Coast, she finished sixth over 200 m and won gold in the 4 × 100 m relay. In July, Williams competed at the Athletics World Cup in London, where she won a gold medal in the 4 × 100 m relay and finished fourth in the 100 m. Williams also competed at the European Championships, where she won a gold medal in the 4 × 100 m relay and finished sixth in the 200 m.

Williams won a silver medal in the 4 × 100 m relay at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, before being upgraded to gold due to a doping violation. In 2023, Williams captained the British team at the European Team Championships First Division, as they finished fifth with Williams running her fastest 200 m in five years to finish second in that event in 22.75 s. She ran 22.59 s, only 0.01 s off of her personal best, over the distance to finish second at the British Championships behind Daryll Neita. At the World Championships in Budapest, Williams reached the semi-finals in the 200 m, running a new personal best of 22.45 s. She went onto win a bronze medal as part of the 4 × 100 m relay team, alongside her teammates Asha Philip, Imani Lansiquot and Daryll Neita.

In 2024, Williams was part of the British team at the World Relays, winning a bronze medal in the 4 × 100 m relay. In July, she was officially selected for her first Olympics as part of Great Britain's Olympic team. At the Games in Paris, Williams made it to the semi-finals of the 200 m and won a silver medal after running in the heats of the 4 × 100 m relay.

Williams improved her seven-year old 60 m personal best of 7.26 s by running 7.21 s to win at the ISTAF Indoor Düsseldorf on 9 February 2025. She won her first national title at the 2025 British Indoor Championships, winning over 60 m in a time of 7.19 s. On 28 February, she lowered her personal best again to 7.16 s at the Villa de Madrid Indoor Meeting. At the European Indoor Championships in Apeldoorn, Williams made the semi-finals of the 60 m, running 7.17 s.

Williams was a member of the Great Britain team which won gold in the women's 4 × 100 metres at the World Athletics Relays Championship on 11 May 2025.

Personal life

Williams lives in Maida Vale and in addition to her track career, works as a part-time tennis coach. She is in a relationship with the Portuguese sprinter Ricardo dos Santos with whom she has a son, born in 2020.

2020 police incident

On 4 July 2020, Williams and dos Santos accused the Metropolitan Police of racial profiling after having their car stopped and searched whilst returning from a training session. Williams uploaded a video of them both being detained and searched. After the incident occurred, Linford Christie shared Williams' video of the incident on Twitter, with the comment "Racist police aren't just in America # BLM". Williams subsequently spoke with ''The Times'' and accused the police of racial profiling and acting violently towards her family. Keir Starmer said on LBC that senior Met officers should feel “very uncomfortable” about the force's handling of the case.

The Met released a statement, saying the vehicle Williams was travelling in had been on the wrong side of the road, and that the driver had sped off when asked to stop. They also said the Directorate of Professional Standards had reviewed footage from social media and officers' bodycams, and were satisfied there was no concern around the officers' conduct involved in the incident. On 7 July 2020, the Met voluntarily referred the incident to the Independent Office for Police Conduct, for independent investigation into the incident. Additionally, they stated that they were now treating the matter as a 'public complaint'.

On 1 July 2021, it was announced that three of the six officers involved were under investigation for gross misconduct. In January 2023, it was reported that five officers were to face a gross misconduct hearing, and that an investigator at the IOPC resigned in November 2020, complaining that her investigation of the incident had been "watered down". The disciplinary hearing against the five officers, who deny the allegations, began on 18 September 2023. Two of the five officers were found guilty of gross misconduct in that they had lied about smelling cannabis. None of the officers were found guilty of misconduct in relation to the stopping of the vehicle, or the handcuffing of the couple. The two officers found guilty of gross misconduct were dismissed. The police misconduct panel who considered the 2020 incident deemed Williams to be 'a credible and thoughtful witness' who had clearly been deeply affected by the incident. After the officers were sacked, a crowdfunding page was set up for the officers' benefit. As at 30 October 2023, more than £140,000 had been raised for them. Williams said she was "shocked with the amount of money that’s been raised".

On 4 October 2024, the Police Appeals Tribunal overturned the gross misconduct outcome and reinstated the jobs of the two officers as well as ordering they receive back pay.

Driving ban

On 4 December 2023, Magistrates imposed on Williams a six-month driving ban, 18 points on her driving licence and fines, surcharges and costs totalling £471. Williams pleaded guilty to failing on three separate occasions to advise the police, in writing, who it was that had been driving her Tesla Model 3 car. The vehicle was alleged to have been involved in an incident earlier in the year. The athlete told the court that she wasn't the driver at the time of the alleged incident and that imposing a ban may jeopardise her chances of qualifying for the 2024 Olympic Games. Williams told the Court she would have difficulty attending her training sessions if she had to rely on public transport. Following her guilty-plea, Williams' suspended driving licence has an accumulated total of 29 penalty points.

Personal bests

References

External links

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Bianca Williams
at the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Bianca
1993 births
Living people
Athletes from the London Borough of Enfield
English female sprinters
British female sprinters
English people of Jamaican descent
Sportspeople of Jamaican descent
Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for England
Athletes (track and field) at the 2014 Commonwealth Games
Athletes (track and field) at the 2018 Commonwealth Games
Athletes (track and field) at the 2022 Commonwealth Games
World Athletics Championships athletes for Great Britain
European Athletics Championships medalists
Alumni of the University of East London
Medallists at the 2014 Commonwealth Games
Medallists at the 2018 Commonwealth Games
Medallists at the 2022 Commonwealth Games
Athletes (track and field) at the 2023 European Games
European Games bronze medalists for Great Britain
European Games medalists in athletics
World Athletics Championships medalists
Athletes (track and field) at the 2024 Summer Olympics
Olympic athletes for Great Britain
Medalists at the 2024 Summer Olympics
Olympic silver medallists for Great Britain
Olympic silver medalists in athletics (track and field)
21st-century English sportswomen
Commonwealth Games bronze medallists in athletics