Floyd Hoping Breakout Year Continues
June 10, 2025 | Track & Field, The Frierson Files
By John Frierson
Staff Writer
Will Floyd is having a big 2025, and he's hoping it keeps getting bigger.
"It has been a breakout year for me," said Floyd, a Georgia sophomore from Seattle.
In March, at the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships in Virginia Beach, Va., Floyd won the program's third straight national championship in the 400, posting a time of 45.43 seconds to edge Baylor's Nathaniel Ezekiel by .01. After winning the individual 400, Floyd then joined Shemar Chambers, Xai Ricks and Ervin Pearson to win the 4x400 relay NCAA title.
"It's not just one thing, I think it's a lot of little, different things that have added up to something," he said of his emergence into one of the top 400-meter sprinters in the country.
Those little things include transferring from Stanford to Georgia, working and developing under the Bulldogs' elite coaching staff and trainers, and training with a couple of former NCAA champions in his event. And the results speak for themselves.
This outdoor season, Floyd has run a personal-best time of 44.93 — it was his first sub-45-second time of his life and is still the eighth-fastest time in the country. While running for the Cardinal a year ago, Floyd's best time in the outdoor 400 was 46.47 seconds.
"He is disciplined and he is coachable," Georgia sprints coach Karim Abdel Wahab said. "He's a great kid, he has natural talent, and he's willing to work. ... He's disciplined, consistent and persistent."
And that is all any coach could ever want out of an athlete. Abdel Wahab loves to dig into the science and analytics of speed and racing; he charts everything his Bulldogs do.
In the 400, the goal is to run the race so that the sprinter's tank is completely empty when they cross the finish line. Achieving that is easier said than done — you have to train your body and mind to not save anything for that final 50 or 100 meters — and Abdel Wahab said Floyd likes to dig into all of that information.
"He loves that because he loves math," Abdel Wahab said. "Okay, he came from Stanford, studying math and calculus and all that. His brain works fine with my brain, so we can talk about these things."
This week, at the NCAA Outdoors in Eugene, Ore., Floyd will try for the Indoor-Outdoor sweep. In 2024, Georgia's Christopher Morales Williams swept the 400 titles; in 2023, Elija Godwin won the 400 Indoor NCAA title. Godwin and Morales Williams still train at Georgia, which means Floyd is working regularly alongside a pair of Olympians and champions in his event.
"We have a great training group. Having people that also have done it before, I think it helps a lot," said Floyd, who ranks behind only Morales Williams (44.05) and Godwin (44.34) in program history in the 400.
At the Tom Jones Invitational in Gainesville, Fla., in April, Floyd ran his personal-best 400 time of 44.93 seconds. He hasn't gone quite that low since, due in part to minor injuries, and actually earned the 12th and final qualifying spot last month with a time of 45.68 at the NCAA East Regional. But he's in the NCAA field this week and has already shown that he can rise to the occasion when a championship is up for grabs.
Floyd, who didn't even qualify for the big national meet last year, said being the NCAA Indoor champion heading to the NCAA Outdoor meet might add a little pressure, but it all balances out. He said he does have higher expectations for himself, which can add pressure, but "I think it adds a lot of confidence, too."
Along with sprinting for a national championship in the 400, Floyd will be part of Georgia's 4x100 and 4x400 relay teams at the NCAAs, starting with the foursome of Brody Buffington, Micah Larry, Jehlani Gordon and Floyd in the 4x100 semifinal on Wednesday. Georgia's 4x400 quartet of Chambers, Floyd, Ricks and Pearson have the fifth-fastest time in the country this season with a 3:02.06.
The fastest 400 time in the country this outdoor season is 44.38 seconds, run by Florida State freshman Micahi Danzy. Floyd has the eighth-fastest time with a 44.93, and everyone in the top 25 is within one second of Danzy's mark. As always, it will be the little things that make the biggest difference. And Floyd has been very good at the little things this year.
Staff Writer
Will Floyd is having a big 2025, and he's hoping it keeps getting bigger.
"It has been a breakout year for me," said Floyd, a Georgia sophomore from Seattle.
In March, at the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships in Virginia Beach, Va., Floyd won the program's third straight national championship in the 400, posting a time of 45.43 seconds to edge Baylor's Nathaniel Ezekiel by .01. After winning the individual 400, Floyd then joined Shemar Chambers, Xai Ricks and Ervin Pearson to win the 4x400 relay NCAA title.
"It's not just one thing, I think it's a lot of little, different things that have added up to something," he said of his emergence into one of the top 400-meter sprinters in the country.
Those little things include transferring from Stanford to Georgia, working and developing under the Bulldogs' elite coaching staff and trainers, and training with a couple of former NCAA champions in his event. And the results speak for themselves.
This outdoor season, Floyd has run a personal-best time of 44.93 — it was his first sub-45-second time of his life and is still the eighth-fastest time in the country. While running for the Cardinal a year ago, Floyd's best time in the outdoor 400 was 46.47 seconds.
"He is disciplined and he is coachable," Georgia sprints coach Karim Abdel Wahab said. "He's a great kid, he has natural talent, and he's willing to work. ... He's disciplined, consistent and persistent."
And that is all any coach could ever want out of an athlete. Abdel Wahab loves to dig into the science and analytics of speed and racing; he charts everything his Bulldogs do.
In the 400, the goal is to run the race so that the sprinter's tank is completely empty when they cross the finish line. Achieving that is easier said than done — you have to train your body and mind to not save anything for that final 50 or 100 meters — and Abdel Wahab said Floyd likes to dig into all of that information.
"He loves that because he loves math," Abdel Wahab said. "Okay, he came from Stanford, studying math and calculus and all that. His brain works fine with my brain, so we can talk about these things."
This week, at the NCAA Outdoors in Eugene, Ore., Floyd will try for the Indoor-Outdoor sweep. In 2024, Georgia's Christopher Morales Williams swept the 400 titles; in 2023, Elija Godwin won the 400 Indoor NCAA title. Godwin and Morales Williams still train at Georgia, which means Floyd is working regularly alongside a pair of Olympians and champions in his event.
"We have a great training group. Having people that also have done it before, I think it helps a lot," said Floyd, who ranks behind only Morales Williams (44.05) and Godwin (44.34) in program history in the 400.
At the Tom Jones Invitational in Gainesville, Fla., in April, Floyd ran his personal-best 400 time of 44.93 seconds. He hasn't gone quite that low since, due in part to minor injuries, and actually earned the 12th and final qualifying spot last month with a time of 45.68 at the NCAA East Regional. But he's in the NCAA field this week and has already shown that he can rise to the occasion when a championship is up for grabs.
Floyd, who didn't even qualify for the big national meet last year, said being the NCAA Indoor champion heading to the NCAA Outdoor meet might add a little pressure, but it all balances out. He said he does have higher expectations for himself, which can add pressure, but "I think it adds a lot of confidence, too."
Along with sprinting for a national championship in the 400, Floyd will be part of Georgia's 4x100 and 4x400 relay teams at the NCAAs, starting with the foursome of Brody Buffington, Micah Larry, Jehlani Gordon and Floyd in the 4x100 semifinal on Wednesday. Georgia's 4x400 quartet of Chambers, Floyd, Ricks and Pearson have the fifth-fastest time in the country this season with a 3:02.06.
The fastest 400 time in the country this outdoor season is 44.38 seconds, run by Florida State freshman Micahi Danzy. Floyd has the eighth-fastest time with a 44.93, and everyone in the top 25 is within one second of Danzy's mark. As always, it will be the little things that make the biggest difference. And Floyd has been very good at the little things this year.
Assistant Sports Communications Director John Frierson is the staff writer for the UGA Athletic Association and curator of the ITA Men's Tennis Hall of Fame. You can find his work at: Frierson Files.
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