diff --git a/awswrangler/athena/_read.py b/awswrangler/athena/_read.py
index 01484c6e5..7948c02e3 100644
--- a/awswrangler/athena/_read.py
+++ b/awswrangler/athena/_read.py
@@ -260,8 +260,7 @@ def _resolve_query_without_cache_ctas(
     boto3_session: boto3.Session,
     pyarrow_additional_kwargs: Optional[Dict[str, Any]] = None,
 ) -> Union[pd.DataFrame, Iterator[pd.DataFrame]]:
-    fully_qualified_name: str = f'"{alt_database}"."{name}"' if alt_database else f'"{database}"."{name}"'
-    ctas_query_info: Dict[str, str] = create_ctas_table(
+    ctas_query_info: Dict[str, Union[str, _QueryMetadata]] = create_ctas_table(
         sql=sql,
         database=database,
         ctas_table=name,
@@ -272,35 +271,14 @@ def _resolve_query_without_cache_ctas(
         workgroup=workgroup,
         encryption=encryption,
         kms_key=kms_key,
+        wait=True,
         boto3_session=boto3_session,
     )
-    ctas_query_id: str = ctas_query_info["ctas_query_id"]
-    _logger.debug("ctas_query_id: %s", ctas_query_id)
-    try:
-        query_metadata: _QueryMetadata = _get_query_metadata(
-            query_execution_id=ctas_query_id,
-            boto3_session=boto3_session,
-            categories=categories,
-            metadata_cache_manager=_cache_manager,
-        )
-    except exceptions.QueryFailed as ex:
-        msg: str = str(ex)
-        if "Column name" in msg and "specified more than once" in msg:
-            raise exceptions.InvalidCtasApproachQuery(
-                f"Please, define distinct names for your columns OR pass ctas_approach=False. Root error message: {msg}"
-            )
-        if "Column name not specified" in msg:
-            raise exceptions.InvalidArgumentValue(
-                "Please, define all columns names in your query. (E.g. 'SELECT MAX(col1) AS max_col1, ...')"
-            )
-        if "Column type is unknown" in msg:
-            raise exceptions.InvalidArgumentValue(
-                "Please, don't leave undefined columns types in your query. You can cast to ensure it. "
-                "(E.g. 'SELECT CAST(NULL AS INTEGER) AS MY_COL, ...')"
-            )
-        raise ex
+    fully_qualified_name: str = f'"{ctas_query_info["ctas_database"]}"."{ctas_query_info["ctas_table"]}"'
+    ctas_query_metadata: _QueryMetadata = ctas_query_info["ctas_query_metadata"]  # type: ignore
+    _logger.debug("ctas_query_metadata: %s", ctas_query_metadata)
     return _fetch_parquet_result(
-        query_metadata=query_metadata,
+        query_metadata=ctas_query_metadata,
         keep_files=keep_files,
         categories=categories,
         chunksize=chunksize,
diff --git a/awswrangler/athena/_utils.py b/awswrangler/athena/_utils.py
index f0eb5b6b7..6da1b992c 100644
--- a/awswrangler/athena/_utils.py
+++ b/awswrangler/athena/_utils.py
@@ -642,7 +642,7 @@ def describe_table(
 
 
 @apply_configs
-def create_ctas_table(
+def create_ctas_table(  # pylint: disable=too-many-locals
     sql: str,
     database: str,
     ctas_table: Optional[str] = None,
@@ -658,8 +658,10 @@ def create_ctas_table(
     data_source: Optional[str] = None,
     encryption: Optional[str] = None,
     kms_key: Optional[str] = None,
+    categories: Optional[List[str]] = None,
+    wait: bool = False,
     boto3_session: Optional[boto3.Session] = None,
-) -> Dict[str, str]:
+) -> Dict[str, Union[str, _QueryMetadata]]:
     """Create a new table populated with the results of a SELECT query.
 
     https://docs.aws.amazon.com/athena/latest/ug/create-table-as.html
@@ -703,13 +705,19 @@ def create_ctas_table(
         Valid values: [None, 'SSE_S3', 'SSE_KMS']. Note: 'CSE_KMS' is not supported.
     kms_key : str, optional
         For SSE-KMS, this is the KMS key ARN or ID.
+    categories: List[str], optional
+        List of columns names that should be returned as pandas.Categorical.
+        Recommended for memory restricted environments.
+    wait : bool, default False
+        Whether to wait for the query to finish and return a dictionary with the Query metadata.
     boto3_session : Optional[boto3.Session], optional
         Boto3 Session. The default boto3 session is used if boto3_session is None.
 
     Returns
     -------
-    Dict[str, str]
-        A dictionary with the ID of the query, and the CTAS database and table names
+    Dict[str, Union[str, _QueryMetadata]]
+        A dictionary with the the CTAS database and table names.
+        If `wait` is `False`, the query ID is included, otherwise a Query metadata object is added instead.
     """
     ctas_table = catalog.sanitize_table_name(ctas_table) if ctas_table else f"temp_table_{uuid.uuid4().hex}"
     ctas_database = ctas_database if ctas_database else database
@@ -753,7 +761,7 @@ def create_ctas_table(
     _logger.debug("ctas sql: %s", ctas_sql)
 
     try:
-        query_id: str = _start_query_execution(
+        query_execution_id: str = _start_query_execution(
             sql=ctas_sql,
             wg_config=wg_config,
             database=database,
@@ -775,7 +783,35 @@ def create_ctas_table(
                 f"It is not possible to wrap this query into a CTAS statement. Root error message: {error['Message']}"
             )
         raise ex
-    return {"ctas_database": ctas_database, "ctas_table": ctas_table, "ctas_query_id": query_id}
+
+    response: Dict[str, Union[str, _QueryMetadata]] = {"ctas_database": ctas_database, "ctas_table": ctas_table}
+    if wait:
+        try:
+            response["ctas_query_metadata"] = _get_query_metadata(
+                query_execution_id=query_execution_id,
+                boto3_session=boto3_session,
+                categories=categories,
+                metadata_cache_manager=_cache_manager,
+            )
+        except exceptions.QueryFailed as ex:
+            msg: str = str(ex)
+            if "Column name" in msg and "specified more than once" in msg:
+                raise exceptions.InvalidCtasApproachQuery(
+                    f"Please, define distinct names for your columns. Root error message: {msg}"
+                )
+            if "Column name not specified" in msg:
+                raise exceptions.InvalidArgumentValue(
+                    "Please, define all columns names in your query. (E.g. 'SELECT MAX(col1) AS max_col1, ...')"
+                )
+            if "Column type is unknown" in msg:
+                raise exceptions.InvalidArgumentValue(
+                    "Please, don't leave undefined columns types in your query. You can cast to ensure it. "
+                    "(E.g. 'SELECT CAST(NULL AS INTEGER) AS MY_COL, ...')"
+                )
+            raise ex
+    else:
+        response["ctas_query_id"] = query_execution_id
+    return response
 
 
 @apply_configs
diff --git a/docs/source/api.rst b/docs/source/api.rst
index e104156d1..0caecc332 100644
--- a/docs/source/api.rst
+++ b/docs/source/api.rst
@@ -121,6 +121,7 @@ Amazon Athena
     repair_table
     start_query_execution
     stop_query_execution
+    unload
     wait_query
 
 AWS Lake Formation
diff --git a/tests/_utils.py b/tests/_utils.py
index 281cc7a32..fe65ce2be 100644
--- a/tests/_utils.py
+++ b/tests/_utils.py
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 import time
 from datetime import datetime
 from decimal import Decimal
-from typing import Dict, Iterator
+from typing import Any, Dict, Iterator
 
 import boto3
 import botocore.exceptions
@@ -501,12 +501,16 @@ def ensure_data_types_csv(df, governed=False):
         assert str(df["par1"].dtype) == "string"
 
 
-def ensure_athena_ctas_table(ctas_query_info: Dict[str, str], boto3_session: boto3.Session) -> None:
-    query_metadata = wr.athena._utils._get_query_metadata(
-        query_execution_id=ctas_query_info["ctas_query_id"], boto3_session=boto3_session
+def ensure_athena_ctas_table(ctas_query_info: Dict[str, Any], boto3_session: boto3.Session) -> None:
+    query_metadata = (
+        wr.athena._utils._get_query_metadata(
+            query_execution_id=ctas_query_info["ctas_query_id"], boto3_session=boto3_session
+        )
+        if "ctas_query_id" in ctas_query_info
+        else ctas_query_info["ctas_query_metadata"]
     )
     assert query_metadata.raw_payload["Status"]["State"] == "SUCCEEDED"
-    wr.catalog.delete_table_if_exists(table=ctas_query_info["ctas_table"], database=ctas_query_info["ctas_database"])
+    wr.catalog.delete_table_if_exists(database=ctas_query_info["ctas_database"], table=ctas_query_info["ctas_table"])
 
 
 def ensure_athena_query_metadata(df, ctas_approach=True, encrypted=False):
diff --git a/tests/test_athena.py b/tests/test_athena.py
index f12198c51..9ea2f530e 100644
--- a/tests/test_athena.py
+++ b/tests/test_athena.py
@@ -169,6 +169,7 @@ def test_athena_create_ctas(path, glue_table, glue_table2, glue_database, glue_c
         database=glue_database,
         encryption="SSE_KMS",
         kms_key=kms_key,
+        wait=False,
     )
     ensure_athena_ctas_table(ctas_query_info=ctas_query_info, boto3_session=boto3_session)
 
@@ -178,6 +179,7 @@ def test_athena_create_ctas(path, glue_table, glue_table2, glue_database, glue_c
         database=glue_database,
         ctas_table=glue_table2,
         schema_only=True,
+        wait=True,
     )
     ensure_athena_ctas_table(ctas_query_info=ctas_query_info, boto3_session=boto3_session)
 
@@ -187,6 +189,7 @@ def test_athena_create_ctas(path, glue_table, glue_table2, glue_database, glue_c
         database=glue_database,
         storage_format="avro",
         write_compression="snappy",
+        wait=False,
     )
     ensure_athena_ctas_table(ctas_query_info=ctas_query_info, boto3_session=boto3_session)
 
@@ -196,6 +199,7 @@ def test_athena_create_ctas(path, glue_table, glue_table2, glue_database, glue_c
         database=glue_database,
         ctas_database=glue_ctas_database,
         partitioning_info=["par0", "par1"],
+        wait=True,
     )
     ensure_athena_ctas_table(ctas_query_info=ctas_query_info, boto3_session=boto3_session)