Karim Abdel Wahab Promoted To T&F Associate Head Coach

ATHENS, Ga. --- Bulldog sprints and hurdles coach Karim Abdel Wahab has been promoted to Associate Head Coach, according to Director of Track & Field Caryl Smith Gilbert.

Abdel Wahab, a native of Egypt, joins Don Babbitt (throws) as a second associate head coach for the Georgia program.  Abdel Wahab was hired during the summer of 2023 and has made an immediate impact for the Bulldogs.

Most recently, Abdel Wahab's sprinters and hurdlers played pivotal roles in the Bulldogs collecting their first NCAA women's outdoor team crown and the men and women each taking second at the 2025 NCAA Indoor Championships.  Abdel Wahab's work did not go unnoticed as he was named the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Outdoor National Women's Assistant Coach of the Year as well as the South Region Women's Assistant Coach of the Year both indoors and outdoors.

Outdoors, his women's competitors exploded for 34 points as Georgia ran away from the nearest competition for the national championship.  Junior Aaliyah Butler became the No. 5 all-time collegiate performer by winning the NCAA 400-meter dash with a school record 49.26.  Also clocking a 49.44 during the regular season, Butler captured the Southeastern Conference 400m crown as well.  She combined with Michelle Smith, Dejanea Oakley and Sydney Harris in the 4x400m relay at Nationals to put an exclamation on the team victory with a gold medal performance (school record, 3:23.62, No. 8 all-time).  Butler's scorching anchor leg of 48.79 ranks as the third best by a collegian in history.

Butler was complemented by Oakley's NCAA silver in the 400m after Oakley registered a 49.65 to shoot to No. 2 in UGA's record books and No. 8 on the all-time collegiate list in her first year with the Bulldogs.  Another relay leg, freshman Michelle Smith, earned runner-up honors in the 400m hurdles at SECs before securing a bronze medal at NCAAs.  Under Abdel Wahab's guidance, she clocked a school record 54.56 to win the Florida Relays and take over the No. 22 spot on the all-time list.

The men also played a part of Abdel Wahab's corps piling up nine First Team All-America certificates, four individual national titles and four individual SEC titles over the course of the 2025 indoor and outdoor campaigns.  Three Bulldogs – Will Floyd, Shemar Chambers, Ervin Pearson – qualified for the NCAA Outdoor Championships.  Floyd ran the third-fastest time in UGA history and the No. 8 time in the country for the season (44.93) and was an NCAA semifinalist.  While Chambers had a top time of 45.29 in his first year in Athens, Pearson was third at SECs (45.58) and had a season best 45.32.  The aforementioned trio plus Xai Ricks won the SEC 4x400m relay title as well with a 3:02.06.

Indoors, Abdel Wahab's runners were just as impressive.  Butler set a meet and school record of 49.78 (No. 3 all-time collegiate performer) to win the SEC crown and was then the NCAA runner-up with a 49.97.  Oakley clocked an all-time collegiate top 25 time of 50.90 for fourth at SECs before bettering that finish into a bronze at NCAAs.  In addition, Butler, Smith and Oakley combined with Haley Tate to win the league's 4x400m relay and take second at NCAAs.  While the quartet's school record 3:26.07 from NCAAs sits No. 6 on the all-time collegiate performer's list, Butler's anchor split of 49.87 from the regular season Razorback Invitational makes her the No. 4 all-time performer for both American and collegian sprinters.

In his first season under Abdel Wahab's tutelage, Floyd emerged as one of college track and field's monsters during the 2025 indoor season.  He complemented his runner-up finish at SECs (45.24, No. 5 in UGA history) with a victory at the NCAA Championships thanks to a 45.43.  Floyd later joined Chambers, Ricks and Pearson during the NCAA meet's conclusion to win the 4x400m relay thanks to a finish of 3:03.44.

In 2024, Abdel Wahab wasted little time making his mark on the 400m, outdoor hurdles and the 4x400m relay. His Bulldog sprinters made 22 improvements to Georgia's all-time top-10 lists, including five school records, and earned First Team All-America honors in five events with a pair of individual national championships.  Sophomore sensation Christopher Morales Williams also won two SEC crowns and established a collegiate record and a world all-time best in the 400m under Abdel Wahab's watch.

Morales Williams ran an all-time world-best 400m time of 44.49 to win the 2024 SEC indoor title, creating fresh Canadian, collegiate, school and meet records in his wake.  Two weeks later, he had the No. 5 all-time collegiate performance (44.67) to collect the national championship in the event.  Outdoors, Abel Wahab managed his budding superstar to another SEC/NCAA sweep.  Morales Williams blistered a 44.05 to win the league's outdoor title with a Canadian, meet and school record finish that was the world leader at the time and made him the No. 6 all-time collegiate performer.  Abdel Wahab then guided Morales Williams to the school's first NCAA outdoor 400m title with a 44.47, marking his fifth sub-45 second 400m of the year.  First-year Bulldog Hossam Hatib clocked the No. 3 time in the Georgia record books (45.12) and set a Moroccan national record with a 46.02 indoors.

On the women's side, Butler set the outdoor 400m school record with a 49.79 to take fourth at the SEC Championships to become the No. 9 all-time collegiate performer.  Wahab started his year with Butler indoors as she clocked UGA's third-fastest time in school history (51.19) prior to taking fourth at the NCAA meet.  In addition, three other of Abdel Wahab's 400m sprinters – Kimberly Harris (52.25), Tate (53.03) and Harris (53.71) – earned a spot on the school's all-time top-10 lists indoors.  Outdoors, Kimberly Harris ran UGA's fourth-best time in history (51.23) at SECs to make the final and qualified for the NCAA Championships.

Abdel Wahab's work with Georgia's relay teams paid of immediate dividends as well.  The Harris sister, Butler and Tate combined for memorable performances both indoors and outdoors, starting with a school record of 3:28.01 (No. 9 all-time collegiate performance) at the Razorback Invitational and taking sixth at both the SEC and NCAA Indoor Championships.  Outdoors, the foursome posted the No. 8 all-time collegiate performance and school record of 3:24.26 to take fourth at the NCAA Championships.  The Lady Bulldog quartet that also took fourth at SECs had five times under 3:30 in 2024 outdoors.

Abdel Wahab's hurdlers also showed massive improvements to take over the No. 2 and No. 3 spots in the Lady Bulldog record books.  Dominique Mustin capped her final year by earning SEC runner-up honors in the 400m hurdles with the second-fastest time in school history (55.60, fastest time for UGA since 1996) and qualified for the NCAA Championships.  Teammate and training partner Zoe Pollock went 56.39 (No. 3 in school history) to also punch her ticket to Nationals.

Karim Abdel Wahab Promoted To T&F Associate Head Coach

Players Mentioned

Aaliyah Butler

Shemar Chambers

Will Floyd

Kimberly Harris

Sydney Harris

Hossam Hatib

Christopher Morales Williams

Dominique Mustin

Dejanea Oakley

Ervin Pearson

Zoe Pollock

Xai Ricks

Michelle Smith

Haley Tate

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