Canadian teenager Christopher Morales Williams ran a stunning 400-meter world indoor record at the SEC Indoor Championships in Fayetteville, Arkansas, on Saturday.
Morales Williamsâ winning time of 44.49 is 0.08 seconds faster that American Kerron Clementâs record from 2005 set on the same track, though the 19-year-oldâs effort is pending ratification by global governing body World Athletics.
In 2018, American Michael Norman ran an indoor time of 44.52 which couldnât be ratified as a record by World Athletics.
âThe world record â I guess thatâs something you wouldnât really expect to happen, but it did,â Morales Williams told reporters after Saturdayâs race. âI put it up there as a goal but wasnât really expecting to break it right now.â
His performance knocked 0.9 seconds off his previous best time and was more than a second faster than Jamaicaâs Jevaughn Powell, who finished a place behind him in Saturdayâs final.
But even more incredible was the fact that the University of Georgia sophomore had been unwell the morning before the race.
âI didnât really feel all too well, I was throwing up,â he said in a post-race interview. âActually, I was sick this morning. But I think that pushed me to try a bit harder. I just gave it [my] all and I kept going, kept going. And then I guess thatâs always the result of it.â
Morales Williams won the Canadian national championships and a silver at the Pan American U20 championships last year. Prior to that, he was part of Canadaâs silver medal team in the 4x400-metre relay at the World U20 Championships in 2022.
As a high school student in Ontario, he was praised for his focus and work ethic, even running up to 12 kilometres (7.46 miles) on his own â an unusually long distance for sprinters â when facilities were closed during the Covid-19 pandemic.