Canadian sprinter wins NCAA 400m title

The dream season continued for Christopher Morales Williams of Vaughan, Ont., on Saturday at the 2024 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships in Boston. Morales Williams recorded the seventh-fastest indoor time in history (44.67 seconds) in the men’s 400m final to win his first NCAA title.

Two weeks after setting a world-best time of 44.49 seconds in the event, Morales Williams’s championship bid was never in doubt as he became the first Canadian male athlete to win an NCAA 400m title indoors.

Christopher Morales Williams runs the 7th fastest time in WORLD HISTORY (44.67) to win the #NCAATF 400m title!

Big 44.91 PB for Auhmad Robinson in second!pic.twitter.com/YvSKau7Sur

— Travis Miller (@travismillerx13) March 9, 2024

Winning an NCAA title with his collegiate team, the University of Georgia Bulldogs, is something Morales Williams says he’s dreamed about since the day he first stepped on campus. “It feels pretty great,” said Morales Williams. “It’s exciting and gives me confidence for the upcoming outdoor season.”

Morales Williams was on world record pace through the first 200m of the men’s 400m final, splitting 20.99 seconds on the clock. “When I saw 21 come up, I knew my time would be fast, so I just kept telling myself that I needed to hold it,” he said post-race. “My biggest goal going in was to win, so if I ran a PB, I knew I had a pretty good chance.”

His personal best of 44.49 seconds was set three weeks ago at the SEC Conference Championships. Initially, it was a new 400m world indoor record, until it was ruled unratifiable due to electronic blocks (Starter Information System) not being in operation at the meet, which is a requirement per World Athletics rule 31.14.5. Despite the time not being recognized as a world record, it still stands as a Canadian indoor record and Morales Williams’s personal best.

The 19-year-old has emerged as one of Canada’s biggest stars as we inch toward this summer’s Paris Olympic Games. “The Olympics is the goal–I want to represent Canada,” Morales Williams said. “Why not shoot for the stars?”