Christopher Morales Williams of Toronto, Ontario set the Canadian record in the men’s 400 metres on Saturday. He posted a time of 44.05 seconds to win the National Collegiate Athletic Association Southeast Conference Outdoor Championship in Gainesville, Florida.
Morales Williams, who was representing the University of Georgia, beat the previous record set by Tyler Christopher of Chilliwack, British Columbia. Christopher had a time of 44.44 seconds when he won the bronze medal at the 2005 International Association of Athletics Federations World Championship in Helsinki, Finland.
In Gainesville on Saturday, Samuel Ogazi of Nigeria won the silver medal with a time of 44.58 seconds. Khaleb McRae of the United States won the bronze medal with a time of 44.68 seconds. Ogazi and McRae both attend the University of Alabama.
To put Morales Williams’s time into perspective, it was the fastest time in 2024 by any 400 metre runner in the world. Bayapo Ndori of Botswana had the previous best time of 44.1 seconds set at the Kip Keino Classic in Nairobi, Kenya on April 20. Morales Williams’s time in Florida was also faster than the time of 44.22 set by Antonio Watson of Jamaica, who won the gold medal at the 2023 International Association of Athletics Federations World Championship in Budapest, Hungary. The gold medal for Morales Williams will give him confidence as he prepares for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
