Cristian Morton

Cristian Amaechi Cuevas Morton (born October 30, 1989) is an American-born track and field 400-meter hurdler who competes for Nigeria. He was the 2012 400 m hurdles gold medallist at the NCAA Championships and the African Championships. He has a personal record of 48.79 seconds for the event.

Morton was born in Atlanta, Georgia to a Nigerian mother, Nkem Sabena Obiekwe. He holds dual American/Nigerian citizenship. He attended Riverwood High School and while there he broke the school records in the 400 m hurdles and the 400-meter dash, as well as finishing second at the 2008 USATF Junior Olympics. He gained an athletic scholarship at Stanford University and began competing for the Stanford Cardinal in 2009. He was chosen for the 4×400-meter relay team and helped Nigeria reach the 2009 World Championships final, where they finished eighth. Returning to collegiate competition in 2010, he set a personal record of 48.94 seconds in the hurdles to finish second at the Pac-10 Championships, then earned his first All-American honours with a third-place finish at the NCAA Outdoors. Morton discussed his internationally eligibility with both the Athletics Federation of Nigeria and USA Track and Field. He requested to run for the United States and American officials asked for his release from Nigerian duty,