SDS Alum Wins U.S. Decathlon -Competing at World Championships

St. Dominic School alumnus Harrison Williams, Class of 2010, is competing on the world stage this weekend. After winning the men's decathlon during the U.S. Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Eugene, Oregon in July, he competed in Budapest at the World Athletics Championships in August, where he finished 7th.

We are proud of our St. Dominic Sun and wish him the best as he continues to compete!!!

Read more about Harrison and his journey in an article written by John Varlas of the Daily Memphian.

Click to follow the link to the story in the Daily Memphian 

Could a Memphian become the World’s Greatest Athlete?

When the decathlon competition gets underway Friday at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary, it figures to be one of the most competitive multi-event meets in history.

On hand will be Kevin Meyer of France, a two-time world champion and two-time Olympic silver medalist. Also competing will former world junior standout Leo Neugebauer of Germany and reigning Olympic champ Damian Warner of Canada.

In all, six competitors have surpassed 8,600 points and 10 athletes can realistically be said to have a shot at getting on the medal stand. And right in the thick of it will be the comeback kid from MUS, Harrison Williams.

Last month in Eugene, Oregon, the 6-foot-5, 195-pound, 27-year-old capped a long road back from injury by winning the championship at the USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, posting a career-high 8,630 points. It’s the 31st-best performance in world history and came after he had placed third, third and fourth in three previous U.S. Championships.

The victory also earned him an automatic spot in Budapest, the second time Williams has qualified for the world championships, while at the same time reinvigorating his career and his confidence.

We caught up with Williams — not an easy thing to do — ahead of Worlds to talk about his journey over the last couple of years.

Daily Memphian: How did it feel to break through after all the injuries you’ve had and get back on top?

Harrison Williams: Really it was just relief.

I’ve had a lot of injuries in the past and I’ve just felt like I’ve underperformed. I’ve always known I had the ability to win a U.S. Championship and it was kind of a relief to finally do it and prove to myself that I’ve been right all these years. 

At the end of the day, it was just a lot of fun to be out there competing. It’s fun when everything goes right.

Obviously you’ve always had that self-belief. But do you feel that victory validated yourself in the eyes of others as well?

Absolutely. A lot of the coaches and people I’ve surrounded myself with throughout my career — starting even with coach (Bobby) Alston at MUS and coach Kris Whitfield (Harrison’s private coach when he was younger) — that always believed in me from the get-go. Kris has always told me I could break the world record in the pole vault or the decathlon.

It helps to be surrounded by people who believe in you when you start to doubt yourself. And I think even having the success I had early on in high school (Williams won nine state titles at MUS and holds state records in three individual events plus one relay), I put a lot of pressure on myself. And I think I felt a lot of pressure from people to immediately make an impact on the professional scene.

When that didn’t happen, I think I definitely started to doubt myself a little bit and could feel doubt coming from outside. But this definitely validated my own opinion of myself and proved to a lot of people I’m back.

When that doubt was at its worst, was there anyone you turned to?

Not really. I don’t really talk to a lot of people I guess. When I get down, I just try to get myself out of it. I texted coach Whitfield a lot. He’d always text me after a meet (saying) ‘awesome job.’ Pumping up my ego a little bit when I need it, which is nice ... but when I feel most down, most deflated, getting back to the grind of training helps.

Do you take solace or comfort from being on the track?

Definitely. And it’s hard when that feeling is gone.

For all of 2021, I really hated it because I was feeling pain all the time from the injuries. Practice became less about trying to jump a bar and run fast and more about how to jump without pain. Trying to figure out how to run and not hurt. That’s why I think injuries are especially tough for track athletes.

But, yeah, now that I’m healthy ... it really feels like recess. That’s what I love about track; you get to go outside and just play. Run as fast I can, sprint, jump. Just have fun out there, that’s kind of how you stay motivated.

And the nature of your injuries? How tough was what you were going through?

The major one — the first one — was a hip impingement; I found out about that in late 2020. So I kind of knew going into 2021 that I couldn’t do surgery because I wouldn’t be recovered for the (Olympic) Trials. So I kind of just had to push through it ... and it got a little better throughout the year but was still kind of bothering me.

The during the Trials, I tore my plantar fascia during the pole vault, which was rough and pretty painful. I spent that whole meet ... I was just in pain. I got lidocaine injections in my heel to try to get through it. Which was not fun.

So I finished that and obviously it was disappointing because I got fourth. Then as soon as I started training again for 2022, the hip pain was back. I had to go to Vail (Colorado) at the Steadman Clinic to get surgery for that. It went great ... but it took a while to recover from that.

Plus the foot injury I still had. So I took all of 2022 off to get to feeling normal again. I’ve been grinding ever since; I started (back full training) in October of 2022 and it felt great. Hip surgery worked; foot feels good.