Canadian teenager Morales Williams races to indoor world 400-metre record
Lori Ewing | Reuters | Posted: February 25, 2024 12:39 PM | Last Updated: February 25
Vaughan, Ont., native's time of 44.49 seconds bests record by 8-100ths in Arkansas
Canada's Christopher Morales Williams raced to a world indoor record in the men's 400 metres at the NCAA's Southeastern Conference championships on Saturday in Fayetteville, Ark.
The 19-year-old University of Georgia sophomore flew to a time of 44.49 seconds to break the previous mark of 44.57 set by American Kerron Clement in 2005 on the same track.
Williams's time also eclipsed American Michael Norman's 44.52 performance from the NCAA Division 1 indoor championships that couldn't be ratified as a world mark.
Morales Williams shaved nearly a second off his previous best time of 45.39 set Feb. 9 at the Clemson Tiger Paw Invitational in South Carolina.
He was part of Canada's world U20 bronze medal-winning 400 relay team in Cali, Colombia in 2022 and clinched silver at the Pan American U20 Championships the following year.
A native of Vaughan,Ont., just north of Toronto, Morales Williams missed two years of high school track when schools were shut during the pandemic. He did daily solo long distance runs during that time for training, working up to 12 kilometres.
Morales Williams chose Georgia largely because of coach Caryl Smith Gilbert, who trained fellow Canadian sprinter and Olympic champion Andre De Grasse at the University of Southern California.
His record is subject to World Athletics' ratification process.