Williams tops the rankings to cap an incredible season

It came exactly one month from her smashing her 1500m personal best and moving up to number two at her favourite track at Watford.

She again sliced nearly three seconds from her best to set the UK fastest time and move to number 12 on the UK’s all-time list.

She again set the time at Watford and, on this occasion, she was pitched up against her fierce rival Molly Canham – the runaway UK leader in the 800m this season.

In ideal warm and still conditions, the race set off at a superb pace, being taken out by the older male athletes.

Williams tucked in for the first two laps and was right on target pace after 800m with England colleague U17 Khahisia Mhlanga also in pursuit of a fast time, surging past Williams on the back straight.

With 200m to go, Williams put in her trademark quality finish, closing down Mhlanga who had opened up 20m on her, all the way to the line to clock a super-fast 4:28.73.

Williams was delighted with her run and to be the number one, an ambition for the past three years.

Her magnificent track season has seen her win a silver medal in the English Schools National 800m final, finish the 800m ranked third in the UK and the 3,000m ranked ninth.

She now heads off to the London Marathon Young Athletes camp where all the UK’s best athletes will be participating in some group training sessions and attending seminars.

She then has a two-week rest before looking forward to the cross country season.

Coach Shane Smith said: “Emily has well and truly stepped up a gear on track this year following her breakthrough season on cross country and she has shown she can compete with the very best in the UK at all the distances from 800m to 3,000m which is quite exceptional.

“Although Emily is enjoying the limelight and success, we’re not getting carried away.

“She will return to the normal training sessions following her break where she will be just another member of the 50-plus strong squad.”

Also running at the Watford Open was U20 Josh Cara who is finally edging into some form following the exertions of A Levels.

Following the news that he secured the top grades he needed for his first choice University of Cambridge where he will study medicine, Cara produced the best run of the season to smash his 3,000m personal best by 10 seconds.

The race saw Cara finish in a fine 10th in a huge field of 27 to record a time of 8:42.79 to move to 38th in the UK rankings.

Also running her first 3k in 10 weeks following an injury, U20 Claudia Nevett ran a fine race to finish in a very respectable 10:45.47 to show she has now fully recovered.