Hannah Williams says winning the British Championship is “a dream come true” as she keeps the title in the family.

The Welwyn Garden City athlete claimed the 200m title at the event in Manchester, following in the footsteps of older sister Jodie who did the same in 2019.

Her time of 23.83 seconds was much slower than she wanted but the smooth as silk and relaxed run was still enough to leave her comfortably clear of Georgia Adam in second and Rebecca Jeggo in third.

Williams, who runs for Herts Phoenix, said: “I am so over the moon winning the British 200m Championships, it’s such a dream come true.

“My older sister won the title last year telling me that I needed to keep the title in the family and I did just that.

“During the lockdown I have worked so hard in order to concentrate on my speed as it’s a weakness of mine. My coach Glyn Hawkes and myself decided it was best for me to concentrate on the 200m this year to see what times I could produce.”

The 22-year-old says the victory will not only change her focus slightly, allowing her to do the less-than-common double of 200m and 400m, but it should also have an impact on her speed over the longer distance.

She added: “Based on my results I now believe that I definitely have the speed to make marked improved results in the 400m.

“I won my heat with a 23.95 and the final in 23.83, I was hoping to gain faster times but as I’m used to running 400m in which you only run once a day, getting used to running more races in one day is a learning curve.”

She will now turn her attention to the indoor season but will also have one eye on selection for the delayed Tokyo Olympics, a target that may seem a lot more achievable now.

Williams wasn’t the only Herts Phoenix athlete to be competing at the championship.

Khahisa Mhlanga won her heat of the 800m before just missing out on a place on the podium in the final by coming fourth.

And Ellie Bandy helped herself to a new personal best of 12.17 in the heats of the 100m.