Canadian Christopher Morales Williams set an indoor world record in the men's 400 meters race at the Southeastern Conference NCAA Championship on Saturday in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

The 19-year-old second-year student at the University of Georgia clocked a time of 44.49 seconds, breaking the previous record of 44.57 set by American Kiron Clement in 2005 on the same track.

Williams' time also surpassed American Michael Norman's 44.52 at the NCAA Division Indoor Championship, which had not been ratified as a world record.

Morales Williams shaved nearly a second off his previous best of 45.39, which he set on February 9 at the Clemson Tiger Paw Invitational in South Carolina.

He was a member of the Canadian U20 world team that won bronze in the 400 relay in Cali, Colombia in 2022 and earned silver at the U20 Pan American Championship the following year.

Morales Williams, a native of Vaughan, Ontario, directly north of Toronto, was also absent from the high school track for two years when schools were closed during the pandemic, and he ran long distances alone daily during that period for training, covering up to 12 kilometers.

Morales Williams largely chose Georgia because of coach Karell Smith Gilbert, who coached fellow Canadian sprinter and Olympic champion Andre De Grasse at the University of Southern California, and his record is undergoing ratification by World Athletics.