Kahmari Montgomery (born August 16, 1997) is an American track and field sprinter specializing in the 400 m for

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. He was the men's 400 m champion at the USA Championships in

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, and at the NCAA Division I Championships in

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. He represented the United States in the relay at the World U20 Championships in

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and at the inaugural

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, earning gold medals in both competitions. In early 2018 he ran a 43.38 s relay split, one of the fastest of all time, setting a school record and bringing the Houston Cougars to their first victory in the event at the

Penn Relays The Penn Relays (also Penn Relays Carnival) is the oldest and largest track and field competition in the United States, hosted annually since April 21, 1895 by the University of Pennsylvania at Franklin Field in Philadelphia. In 2012, there were ...

. In February 2019 he ran a 44.45 s indoor split, the third-fastest indoor split of all time, to help the Houston Cougars to what is recognized as the

world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organization ...

for the indoor relay with a time of 3:01.51.

Prep

Kahmari Montgomery competed for Plainfield Central High School. He ran the fifth-fastest 400 m in the United States for high school seniors in 2015. He was also No. 12 for the indoor 60 m, No. 14 for the 100 m, and No. 17 for the 200 m. Montgomery won five

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state track championship titles: the 100 m state title in 2015, the 200 m in 2014 and 2015, and the 400 m in 2014 and 2015.

College

As a freshman competing for the

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in 2016, Kahmari Montgomery won the indoor 400 m in 45.78 s and outdoor 400 m in 45.13 s to become a two time

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities o ...

(SEC) champion. He made the semi-finals at both the

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and outdoor

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Division I Championships, placing 11th and 9th respectively in the 400 m, and earned a silver medal at the USA Junior Championships. He competed at the USA Olympic Trials in the 400 m, though he did not advance from the preliminaries. He finished his season by earning a gold medal for the United States at the World U20 Championships in the 4 × 400 m relay. In his sophomore season he had less success. He failed to reach the finals in either of the SEC Championships, failed to qualify for either of the NCAA Division I Championships, and did not approach his personal best times he had set in the prior year. However he represented the United States at the

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where he was introduced to

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, head coach of the Houston Cougars, and earned a silver medal in the 4 × 400 m relay. He decided to transfer to the

University of Houston The University of Houston (UH) is a public research university in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1927, UH is a member of the University of Houston System and the university in Texas with over 47,000 students. Its campus, which is primarily in s ...

after his season ended, citing a positive experience with the team at the Universiade and a lack of belief in his ability to succeed as an athlete at the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus University of Missouri System. MU was founded in ...

. In his first year competing for the Houston Cougars in 2018, Kahmari Montgomery won the indoor 400 m in 45.53 s, indoor 4 × 400 m in 3:10.03, and outdoor 400 m in 45.93 s to become a three time

American Athletic Conference The American Athletic Conference (The American or AAC) is an American collegiate athletic conference, featuring 11 member universities and five affiliate member universities that compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) ...

(AAC) champion. At the

he ran one of the fastest 4 × 400 m relay splits ever, clocking the anchor leg in 43.38 s and helping earn the Houston Cougars their first Penn Relays 4 × 400 m relay title in a new school record time of 3:01.82. He made the finals at both the

and outdoor NCAA Division I Championships, placing 4th and 7th respectively. In his last individual race for the season at the USA Championships he won the 400 m in a personal best time of 44.58 s. He went on to compete for the United States at the inaugural

and the

NACAC Championships The North American, Central American and Caribbean Championships is a continental track and field athletics event organised by the North American, Central American and Caribbean Athletic Association. The last of the six IAAF areas to hold a conti ...

, earning gold medals at both competitions in the 4 × 400 m relay. At the beginning of 2019 Montgomery was placed on the preseason watch list for

The Bowerman The Bowerman is an annual track and field award that is the highest accolade given to the year's best student-athlete in American collegiate track and field. It is named after Oregon track and field and cross country coach Bill Bowerman and is ...

. In February at the Clemson Tiger Paw Invitational he anchored Houston to victory in the relay with a world leading 3:01.51, the fourth fastest indoor performance of all time, and an indoor world record pending ratification. While not the fastest time achieved over the distance indoors, other faster times had not been ratified for various technical reasons. On February 26, 2020, Houston's indoor world record was ratified by

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. Montgomery himself split 44.45 s, the third fastest indoor 400 m split of all time, to barely finish ahead of Texas A&M Aggie Devin Dixon, who recorded the fastest 400 m split of all time in 44.24 s. Two weeks later at the AAC Indoor Championships Montgomery repeated as 400 m champion with a world leading 45.04 s clocking. After the regional championships he was named co-athlete of the year by the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association in the south-central region, shared with Devin Dixon. He wrapped up his indoor season with second place in the 400 m at the NCAA Division I Indoor Championships in 45.03 s, a new indoor personal best, and the 4 × 400 m relay title.

Statistics

*Information from

profile unless otherwise noted.

Personal bests

International championships results

Circuit wins

* Diamond League (400 m) **

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2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in t ...

National championships results

results from Track & Field Results Reporting System.

Seasonal bests

Notes

References

External links

* * (Houston) * (Missouri)
Kahmari Montgomery
bio at Houston Cougars {{DEFAULTSORT:Montgomery, Kahmari 1997 births Living people African-American male track and field athletes American male sprinters Track and field athletes from Chicago People from Plainfield, Illinois Houston Cougars men's track and field athletes University of Houston alumni Universiade silver medalists for the United States World Athletics indoor record holders (relay) USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships winners Universiade medalists in athletics (track and field) Medalists at the 2017 Summer Universiade 21st-century African-American sportspeople