Chris Morales Williams, who clocked the fastest time ever indoors over the 400m, expressed little disappointment after learning the mark would not be ratified.
“It doesn’t change the fact that I still ran the time. It’s still the fastest time in the world, so it really doesn’t bother me at all. It’s not ratified, but it’s still there,” Chris Morales Williams stated for georgiadogs.com. ALSO READ: No More Waiting: World Athletics Championships in Athletics to Be Annual Affair from 2025
Chris Morales Williams’ World Record Unratified Due to Starting Block Issue
Despite such a commendable performance, the world record set by Chris Morales Williams failed ratification because the starting blocks at the indoor meeting did not meet World Athletics (WA) standards.
The U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association, the entity overseeing the majority of NCAA track & field programs, announced on their X (formerly known as Twitter) account:
“The 44.49 that Christopher Morales Williams of @UGATrack ran this past weekend in the 400 meters at the @SEC Indoor Championships will remain an all-time world best since it can’t be ratified due to an issue with the starting blocks,” the organization said.
“It really doesn’t make too much of a difference. It doesn’t bother me.” For Morales Williams and Georgia, there’s a silver lining: indoor racing “is not really my favorite,” he admitted.
The 200-meter laps and banked tracks are still somewhat unfamiliar to him, having not competed on them much in Canada before arriving at Georgia last January.
“I’ve never actually been good at indoor before this. We don’t have (many) banked tracks in Canada, so I never really ran on one until last year (other than one time),” Chris Morales Williams explained.
“It took me about a year to adjust. All of last year, I was trying to figure out (distances and pacing). My race plan for outdoors isn’t the same for indoors.”
His next competition is set for the NCAA Championships, where the proper equipment should be in place.
____________________________________________________________
Help us hit 100,000 subscribers on TrackalertsTV! 🌟 Subscribe, like, and share to fuel your track and field passion. Follow us @trackalerts on Facebook, Twitter, TikTok and Instagram for the latest. Join our athletics family and comment below! 🏃♂️🏃♀️💬 Share your thoughts at [email protected]. #Trackalerts #JoinUs #AthleticsCommunity
