Athletics-Morales Williams says a technicality cannot erase his achievement

While Canadian teenager Christopher Morales Williams was denied an indoor world record due to an issue with the starting blocks, the sprinter said it does not take anything away from his remarkable achievement. The University of Georgia student clocked 44.49 seconds in the 400m at the NCAA's Southeastern Conference championships on Saturday, a blistering time briefly celebrated as a world record before officials confirmed that it would not be ratified.

While Canadian teenager Christopher Morales Williams was denied an indoor world record due to an issue with the starting blocks, the sprinter said it does not take anything away from his remarkable achievement.

The University of Georgia student clocked 44.49 seconds in the 400m at the NCAA's Southeastern Conference championships on Saturday, a blistering time briefly celebrated as a world record before officials confirmed that it would not be ratified. "It doesn't take away how fast I ran, it's still the world's fastest time," Morales Williams told Reuters.

The blocks were not connected to the Starter Information System (SIS), which detects false starts and is required by World Athletics for a record to be ratified, meaning Kerron Clement's time of 44.57 set in 2005 remains the official mark. The 19-year-old from Vaughan, just north of Toronto, said the blocks at next week's NCAA championships in Boston do meet world standards. But potentially running a record that counts is not at the front of his mind.

"It will put some pressure on me, that's why I'm trying to not think about it too much, because everyone's going to be like 'He's got to break it again'," Morales Williams said. "But honestly, if I run my best, if I run what I can do, then it should be a world record. Just by running a PB (personal best), that's a world record."

The Canadian knew he was flying along at a fast pace last weekend in Fayetteville. He had no idea how fast. "Just finishing, I felt amazing," Morales Williams said. "I knew I had won the race with 100 metres to go, and I just kept running and running because I just wanted to win so bad.

"The (time) was unexpected. Some people say I accidentally broke the world record because I really wasn't planning for it at all." METEORIC RISE

Morales Williams is enjoying a meteoric rise. His time at the SEC championships was nearly a second faster than his previous indoor best set two weeks earlier, and was a second faster than his personal best last season -- outdoors. It was also a half-second faster than the Olympic standard, which has led to an overhaul of his goals.

"My goal originally was to just make the (Paris Olympic) final and now my goal is to shoot for the podium," he said. He chalks up his remarkable improvement this season to his late arrival at Georgia. Because the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered high school athletics for two years, he did not record a decent time until well into his senior year, and so was late to sign with Georgia.

"I didn't get any base training last year, I missed all the fall training, I missed weights and all these things to get me stronger and faster," Morales Williams said. "So it was also really hard for me to adjust. "Now I've been here for a while so everything has started to click."

His achievement has also started to sink in. "Every hour or so, I would realise 'I broke the world record!' I'd be freaking out," he said. "It's just insane that it happened and doesn't feel real.

"But now I'm starting to believe it, you know, getting used to that fact it all happened in 44 seconds." Morales Williams is following in the footsteps of fellow Canadian and Olympic 200m champion Andre De Grasse. They were both first spotted in high school by coach Tony Sharpe and went on to work with college coach Caryl Smith Gilbert, De Grasse at USC and Morales Williams at Georgia.

"I'm really excited to see what Christopher does through the rest of this season and in the years ahead," De Grasse said. "Tony and coach Caryl helped shape me as both an athlete and as a person, so I know that Christopher is in good hands."

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)