Track & Field
- Title:
- Assistant Coach - Sprints, Hurdles
- Email:
- kaw@sports.uga.edu
Karim Abdel Wahab, who is a native of Egypt, joined Georgia’s staff guiding the sprinters and hurdlers in July 2023 after serving in a similar role for the University South Carolina team during the 2019-23 seasons and has made a mammoth impact in Athens. Abdel Wahab was elevated to Associate Head Coach prior to the 2025-26 academic year in Athens.
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.
The veteran sprints and hurdles coach was instrumental for the Gamecocks, helping the women experience some of the finest seasons in well over a decade. During the 2023 indoor season, the South Carolina women’s 4x400-meter relay finished second at the SEC Indoor Championships and then seventh at the NCAA Championships. Outdoors, Abdel Wahab coached true freshman Sylvia Chelangat to a new 800m school record (2:02.58) at the UF Tom Jones Memorial, marking an eight second improvement from Chelangat’s previous personal best. This was her first year specializing in the 800m. Later during the outdoor season, Chelangat finished as the runner-up at the SEC Championships.
In 2022, Abdel Wahab coached 13 All-Americans and witnessed a handful of scorers at both the SEC Championships and NCAA Championships. Among those All-Americans were Stephanie Davis, Makenzie Dunmore and Destinee Rocker. Rocker broke the school record in the 60m hurdles (8.07) and registered the third best 100m hurdle time of (12.95). Rocker also finished eighth at the NCAA Outdoor Championship to earn All-American status, while Davis earned hers as part of the 4x400m relay team – the same team that claimed the title at the Penn Relays. In fact, that same relay team of Davis, Dunmore, Angel Frank and Jahnile Registre broke the 4x400m relay school record at the SEC Outdoor Championships with a time of 3:25.45.
The 2022 season also yielded student-athletes like freshmen Jayla Jamison who became the USATF Jr. Nationals champion in the 200m and earned silver in the 200m at World Jr. Championships for Team USA with a time of 22.77. Jamison was the first leg on the 4x100m relays at Worlds, setting a new American record, helping her team earn a silver medal and only finishing behind the relay team from Jamaica.
Abdel Wahab worked with Olympians and athletes from the World Championships, including the likes of Gamecock Alum Wadeline Jonathas. Jonathas, who continued to train in Columbia under Abdel Wahab’s tutelage, competed in the 400m for Team USA in the Tokyo Olympics. He also coached Aliyah Abrams to the Tokyo Games for her home country of Guyana. Both Jonathas and Abrams made it to the semifinals of the 400m at the Olympics. Jonathas was also a member of the women’s 4×400m relay team that advanced in the first round of competition, later earning gold medal for her efforts.
In addition, Abrams competed in the 2022 World Indoor Championships where she finished fifth and broke the South American and Guyana record.
Prior to the shutdown because of COVID-19, Abdel Wahab continued to coach Jonathas and Abrams throughout their run to the 2019 IAAF World Championships in Doha, Qatar. Abrams captured the Guyana national title in the 400m while Jonathas qualified for Team USA with her finish at USA Nationals. Jonathas eventually reached the IAAF World Championship final in the 400m and posted a new collegiate record (49.60) to finish fourth in the world.
In 2019 and his first year as a Gamecock, Abdel Wahab’s student-athletes achieved numerous milestones, including the women’s 4x400m relay team winning the NCAA Indoor Championship. Abrams was a silver medalist in the 400m at the NCAA Indoor Championship that same season.
Moving over to the outdoor season, Abdel Wahab coached Jonathas to win the NCAA Championship in the women’s 400m, while her teammate Abrams placed fifth overall in the 400m. That year, South Carolina was the only school in the nation that sent two women to the NCAA finals in the 400m and both achieved personal bests in the finals. The 4x400m relay took third at the same championship.
Abdel Wahab came to Columbia after eight seasons in charge of the sprinters and hurdlers at Colorado State University. His student-athletes combined for 13 new school records, including three Mountain West Conference records.
During his eight seasons in Fort Collins, Abdel Wahab led his student-athletes to six All-America honors and one honorable mention All-America honor. From 2012-14, Abdel Wahab coached Trevor Brown to five All-America finishes, including laurels in the 110m and 400m hurdles outdoors and the 60m hurdles indoors. Brown left CSU as the Mountain West’s record-holder in the 60mH (7.73) and 110mH (13.55).
On the women’s side, Abdel Wahab molded Lorenda Holston into an All-American in the 60m and 100m hurdles in 2017. Holston set the Mountain West’s all-time record in the 60mH (8.06). Before joining the staff at Colorado State, Abdel Wahab spent four seasons at the University of Northern Colorado. He coached UNC’s first-ever NCAA West Preliminary Round qualifiers in the men’s 100m and 200m, helped four Bears set new school records and led multiple Big Sky Conference champions. He also spent two seasons at Colorado School of Mines.
Outside of the collegiate level, Abdel Wahab served as the personal coach for Fort Collins native and 2012 Olympic long jump bronze medalist Janay DeLoach. Under Abdel Wahab’s tutelage, DeLoach finished third in the long jump at the 2016 U.S. Olympic Trials, earning a spot at the 2016 Rio Olympics. DeLoach was also a fourth-place finisher in the long jump at the 2016 World Indoor Championships and won the 2016 60m hurdles at the MILROSE Games (7.85m) under Abdel Wahab’s leadership.
Prior to his time out west, Abdel Wahab served as a team coach for the Egyptian National Team at the 2010 African Championships, the 2011 World Outdoor Championships, the 2012 World Indoor Championships and the 2012 and 2016 Olympic Games. Among those to train under Abdel Wahab are Amr Seoud who broke the 100m (10.13) and 200m (20.36) national records, and Anas Beshr who set a national record in the 400m (45.40) to qualify for the Rio Olympics.
Recognized as one of the top sprints and hurdles coaches in the world, Abdel Wahab has published several articles discussing the mechanics and methodologies of each discipline. He has taught extensively on the subject throughout the United States and Canada.
Abdel Wahab graduated in 2002 from Helwan University in Cairo with a degree in Physical education, exercise science and track and field coaching. He is a USATF Level I Coach and is recognized as an ISSA Fitness Trainer and ISSA Fitness Therapist.
