Track and Field: 19-Year-Old Christopher Morales Williams Overcomes Record Denial by Registering World Lead

Christopher Morales Williams is writing quite a story of grit and determination! In February this year, the youngster was denied a world record at the SEC Indoor Championships in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Despite staging a world lead on that occasion, that was not ratified because of some technical issues. But that did not dampen his morale. Rather, he came back to redo it, and this time that could not be denied at the SEC outdoor track and field championships in Gainesville.

On Saturday, Williams won the 400-metre event with a Canadian record and world lead time of 44.05 seconds. In this quest, he broke the previous record by Tyler Christopher (44.44) set in 2005. Morale’s time also marked his personal best time and the sixth fastest time in collegiate history. It seems that the achievement went to a very deserving athlete, who frequently goes on lengthy solo runs of up to 12 kilometers, and continued doing that even while facilities were closed during the COVID-19 outbreak. It also brings up the target he had talked about a month back after the indoor championships.

Back then, Christopher was asked about his goals for the outdoor season. His reply was, “For this outdoor [season,] I would say a Canadian national record, it would be nice to break it, a school record. I feel like having a set time is more of a hindrance than it is a goal. So, my goal for time would just be anything…what if I’m way better than the collegiate record? What if I’m world record? So I’d rather just, my goal, is just really to do best in terms of time – how fast I run is how fast I run.” Understandably, he has lived up to his words. So what was the factor that played out the most in this superb achievement?

After winning the race, in an interview with Citiusmag, Williams said that it was the successful execution of the race plan that probably paid the most in the win. The plan was to maintain the lead from the very beginning rather than snatching the win at the fag end of the race, something, he said, he has been doing in the past few races.

“…have been running that either the first 100 or the third 100 and so this time I was like okay let me actually just win from the front and instead of having to just hammer it on the end and so that’s what I did…was in the lead by pretty much 200 meters…had it by the third hundred..was really nice…far ahead…got the race plan to work…we did it indoors but couldn’t really get it outdoors…now it’s kind of finally coming together,” Williams noted. Indeed, the execution of the plan at the indoors had brought him great outcomes.

In February, at the SEC Indoor Championships in Fayetteville, Arkansas, Williams clinched the 400-meter race with a time of 44.49s. With his achievement, he broke the record set by American Kerron Clement in 2005 by just 0.08 seconds, overcoming sickness. In a post-race interview, Morales Williams expressed, “I didn’t really feel all too well, I was throwing up… I was sick this morning.” However, despite the power of his performance, a big block of misfortune struck him. His 400-meter race record was not ratified. Let us look at the factors that led to this disappointment.

Morales Williams’ starting block issue

A problem with the starting blocks prevented Christopher Morales Williams’ amazing 400-meter performance from being officially acknowledged as a world indoor record. In an explanation of the situation, an official from the University of Arkansas stated that the starting blocks needed to be connected to an approved system for world records. But that wasn’t the case, apparently because of a decision made by SEC coaches.

A spokesperson had stated, “…need to be linked to a World Athletics-certified Start Information System.” But before world records are officially recognized, “head coaches from the SEC schools have voted not to use them.” A similar incident took place in 2018. American Michael Norman ran an indoor 400-meter time of 44.52 which also couldn’t be ratified as a record. But Williams’ record was still recognized as a fantastic accomplishment.

“The time by Christopher will be referred to as an all-time world best as well as a U.S. collegiate record,” the spokesperson continued. “It may also be considered a Canadian national record, depending on the criteria Athletics Canada uses to verify a national record,” they further added. The US Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association states that despite the fact it is not going to be a record, it will be acknowledged as an all-time world best. Christopher Morales Williams’ determination will surely bring more such laurels for him.