Novlene Williams - file

If her exploit on the track in 2006 is anything to go by, Novlene Williams should be on course to break the national 400m record next season.

This season, the quarter-miler became the fourth Jamaican to break the 50-second barrier. Lorain Fenton (49.30), Grace Jackson (49.57) and Sandie Richards (49.79) previously achieved the mark.

Williams has had three sub-50 second times, including a personal best 49.63 which came in her last outing in China, along with 49.64 and 49.65, done in Rieti and Rome respectively.

"The highlight of the season was when I ran under 50 seconds, though twice I was second (to American Sanya Richards). It's something I always look forward to," she said.

Only Jamaican-born Richards (48.70), Olga Zaytseva (49.49), and Vania Stambolova (49.53) have run faster than Williams, who started the season with a third-place finish at the Commonwealth Games in March.

Other times of 50.24 (twice) at the Jamaica National Championships and London Grand Prix, and 50.36 and 50.37, underlined her consistency this season.

Successful season

As her successful season approached its end, Williams, a former University of Florida and Ferncourt High student, finished second at the two-day World Athletics Final in Stuttgart, Germany, in September as she was beaten by Richards.

"The season was an unbelievable one for me. it was the best season for me," said Williams in a telephone interview from her Florida home.

"It was one that I can't complain about. The first part of it was slow, but after national championships where I ran my then PR (50.24), things turned around for me.

"It was the best, and I am looking for more," she added while hinting Fenton's national record of 49.30 will be one of her targets next season.

Looking ahead at the 2007 season, which she predicts will be tougher, Williams said: "My aim is to first defend my national title and then move on for a place on the medal podium at the World Championships."