A catapult to the big leagues. New WR for indoor 400m
Last week, I published a piece about Christopher Morales Williams, a Canadian 400m runner, achieving a Canadian indoor record on February 9.
I was very impressed with the performance, particularly given his young age (19). I expressed optimism about what he could achieve in the outdoor season and in the years to come.
An unexpected monster run
Well, it looks like he’s launching into the big leagues a lot earlier than I expected.
Morales Williams new indoor world record of 44.49 set at the SEC indoor championships this weekend in Fayetteville Arkansas. Eclipsing the previous best of 44.52 set by none other than Michael Norman. (4th place all-time in the 400m outdoors with a PB of 43.45). First under 44.5 indoors.
Here’s a tweet with a race video.
This was really a beautiful run, perfectly executed. He gets out hard on the first 100m, but the second 100m really stands out for me. Without forcing it too much, he stays level with Jevaughn Powell in lane 5, and then drops down off the bank in textbook fashion, expertly converting gravitational potential into motion from the top of the outer lane. He combined this with just an ideal line from the cut-in, reaching lane one at the lap line to take the lead going into the bell lap. He was 21.09 at the 200m split, interestingly, right around his current 200m PB for indoors.
And then he carried it powerfully through the second lap. The 300m looks to have been around 32.2 (11.1 for the third 100m). Powell made effort to bring it back on the last 100m, but didn’t have the legs. Morales Williams kept smooth and relaxed, holding on and charging through the line with the win and the record (12.3 for the final 100m).
My impressions
I am surprised like everyone else watching. It was evident his performances were on the rise but I don’t think anyone quite expected this. With his earlier indoor PB of 45.39, I figured he was set to maybe run 44-high this summer, make the Olympic team and have an amazing learning experience of it. But no real expectations beyond that.
But suddenly this catapults him into serious consideration on a world level for the outdoor season. It seems likely now that he should be able to, barring issues, comfortably qualify for the Olympics this year. With this sort of performance – with all caveats that indoor success doesn’t necessarily carry over into a great outdoor championships season – has to be taken seriously at this point as someone to reach the final and contend. If he could match this strength and energy in an outdoor race this summer, you have to figure that 44.49 indoors becomes somewhere close to 44.00 outdoors? Last year that would have been a #3 world ranking. That’s a lot of pressure for a young athlete who just got to that level suddenly.
This leads to another big caveat: He is only 19, and has never been to a World championship or Olympics before. He was on the Canadian team for the 2022 U20 World championships, where he made it to the semifinals. Had a bronze medal in the relays, 4x400m. Silver at Pan-Am U20 last summer. So some junior international championships experience. But the Olympics are a much bigger stage. Especially as the young talent with the surprise breakout year. This is potentially a rapid launch into the thick of it. It’s a lot of pressure to handle. This is where the greats reveal themselves, either rising to the occasion or learning powerful lessons that they can draw on for next time.
I’m interested to see what he will do at the NCAA championships in a few weeks’ time. I would have to consider him a favorite at this point. No one else is under 45.00 in the NCAA this year. Then again, Morales Williams himself never went under 45 until yesterday. It will be a good test to see if he can put up another sub-45 mark at nationals to underline that he can consistently perform at that new level.
Beyond the NCAA indoor championships, the calendar is demanding. Some break in March after NCAA indoors, then the outdoor season starts in mid March, running for several months. Conference championships late May, NCAA outdoors first week of June. I imagine Morales Williams is a funded athlete and is probably required to run the NCAA outdoor season.
And then only a few weeks later, the Canadian National championships / Canadian Olympic trials, last week of June in … Montréal. (Wow, giggity! I want to go watch that). As far as I am aware, this record time of Morales Williams would give him the Olympic qualifying standard (45.00). I’m not sure what other requirements Athletics Canada places for team selection, such as participation and medal performance at the trial. Each country can send up to 3 athletes in each event. I don’t think three other Canadians will be going under 45 this year.
Olympics is then about … 6 weeks after that, second week of August.
NCAA athletes often have trouble reaching their best for the Olympics. There’s a whole long demanding season that the pro athletes don’t have to deal with.
At this point I would give him better than even odds to be in the final at the Olympics. But I would have to see the outdoor spring performances to take a better guess than that.
Exciting times for track.
Update (February 27, 2024):
So … some annoying news on this story. So apparently this result, while valid as a track result, was not eligible for an official world record recognized by World Athletics due to some technical requirements about the starting blocks. For a new official world record, rules require that the meet use certified starting blocks with digital false start detection. It’s a rule the federation sets.
To be clear, no one is saying there was any false start in the race. There were race marshalls and starters who watch for this sort of thing with their experienced eyes.
There’s no issue with the timing. Digital starting and photo-timing system, gun starts the clock, athletes crossing at the finish stops clock. It is a valid result. The time is on the books, and on the level of NCAA record and (I think) Canadian indoor national record, it will be valid.
In addition, the federation confirms Morale’s Williams passed an after competition drug test.
The race was clean and valid. But it doesn’t count for a WR … because the blocks.
🤷🏻♂️
It sucks, but such things happen in sports. It is what it is.
Anyway. Hopefully they have the right blocks at the NCAA championships in Boston in a few weeks. Something tells me Christopher might feel some motivation to throw down at this meet. :)
