By: Sammy Wang
On Monday, June 24, 2024, 16-year-old Quincy Wilson finished sixth at the 400-meter final at the U.S Olympic Track and Field Trials. With the time of 44.94, he has set a new record for people under the age of 18 since 1982.
Born on January 8, 2008, Wilson, now a rising junior at Bullis High School in Potomac, Md, has set many records in track and field.
His first milestone was in March 2022, when he ran for 48.41 seconds in the 400 meters. In August 2022, he won his fifth AUU Junior Olympic Games title with 44.77 seconds in the 400 meters race. His other noteworthy races included the semi-finals with 47.59 seconds and the 200 meters race with 22.42 seconds.
In March 2023, he won the New Balance Nationals Indoor title in the 400 meters race with 46.67 seconds. In April 2023, at the 400 meters race, he ran at 45.06 seconds at Penn Relays in Philadelphia.
This year in January 2024, he participated in the boys invitation 500 meters race in the VA Showcase. Running with 1:10:27 seconds he almost reached Will Summers’s national high school record by 0.02 seconds.
In March 2024, he kept his title at the New Balance National Indoor 400 meters race with the record of 45.76 seconds.
Coming back to this June with the 400-meter final states that this week has been incredible.
“I’ve never been this happy a day in my life when it comes to track,” Wilson said. “I’ve been working for this moment. That record I broke two days ago, that’s 42 years of nobody being able to break that record. I broke it twice in two days. It means a lot to me, because it means the hard work is paying off.”
Sources:
https://www.nbcnews.com/sports/olympics/quincy-wilson-16-one-race-becoming-youngest-us-track-athlete-ever-rcna158675#:~:text=—%20Quincy%20Wilson%2C%20a%2016%2D,Olympic%20Track%20and%20Field%20Trials.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quincy_Wilson_(runner)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_Sumner
https://www.sportingnews.com/us/olympics/news/quincy-wilson-16-year-old-bullis-olympic-track-field-trials/6d822c59c98ff19a97700aa5