IF THERE WERE a contest for “what did you do over your summer vacation?” we just may have the all-time champion in Quincy Wilson. Still just 16, he showed up recently for the first day of his junior year at Maryland’s Bullis School with tired legs and an Olympic gold medal.
In a sophomore season that saw him unwind his long legs and break the High School Record three times, topped by a startling 44.20, Wilson reshaped the world’s perceptions of what a young 400 runner can do. The world was surprised; was he? “Oh, of course, of course.” He adds, “It was an extremely fun ride. Just being able to inspire the people that look up to me and look towards me and getting introduced to new things and being able to overcome different things and learn many lessons just feels great.”
Before the season had even begun, Wilson was on the radar. As a 9th-grader he had set an age-15 record of 45.87 and relayed 45.06. Then, over the winter, his soph-year record rampage began. On December 29, he ran a 1oth-grade record 1:17.81 in the 600. Two weeks later, another soph record, this one at 500 (1:01.27) before helping his Bullis sprint medley to a HSR 3:23.86. At Millrose, he took that 600 record down to 1:17.36.
At the New Balance Indoor, he slashed 0.16 from a 20-year-old HSR with his 45.76; then he anchored a HSR 3:11.87 in the 4×4.
Outdoors, he only got better, opening up with an Olympic Trials qualifier 45.19 at the Florida Relays. April he spent focusing on training as well as on the Bullis relays. He opened the month with his first-ever 800, an impressive 1:50.44. At the Penn Relays, hoping to beak up a Jamaican lock on the 4×4, the Bullis team was stung by a dropped baton on the first leg in the heats. Wilson responded with an anchor in 44.37 — the fastest prep leg ever — to take the win. Then in the final, disaster struck again, with a dropped baton on the second exchange. Coming from far back, Wilson went hard for the win only to fall short with a 3rd-place. His split: 44.69.
He says that he and coach Joe Lee focused on Penn as a major test for the Trials. “My coach was like, ‘If we’re going to the Trials, you’ve got to run both rounds.’ So I ran both, and it showed I was ready to go… I really wanted it for my teammates.” (Continued below)
Those relay performances started the fans talking — if he could get through the Trials in one piece, he had a chance to help the U.S. relays in Paris.
In May he improved to 45.17, then a 45.13 in June to win New Balance Outdoors by well over a second (plus a 45.10 to anchor the winning Bullis 4×4 in 3:09.43).
A week later came the Olympic Trials in Eugene. The youngster wasted no time. He won his heat in 44.66, breaking Darrell Robinson’s HSR of 44.69 that had stood for 42 years. It also broke the World Youth (U18) record of 44.84 that Justin Robinson had set in ’19.
Two days later in the semis, he did it again, breaking his own records with a 44.59 in finishing behind Bryce Deadmon and Vernon Norwood. Fans wondered if he could challenge for a team spot in the next day’s final; challenge he did, but on the final stretch he felt the burn. He finished 6th in 44.94.
Three weeks later, he traveled to Gainesville for the Holloway Pro Classic, anxious to prove his readiness for Paris. He did that and more, outlegging Deadmon in a race to the line in a record-smashing 44.20.
He admits it wasn’t as effortless as he made it look. “It was not easy at all. After the race, I went to the back and threw up. It was extremely hard.”
The time surprised him. “I just wanted to get out there. Like I say every time, I like to win. I love to win. I’m competitive. I was determined to win.”
In training, the stars had lined up for something special. “I was hitting my times. Everything was going well for me: hydration, sleep — everything was all right. I just knew that this time I was going to run really fast; I didn’t know how fast.
“I had been having intense training because it was leading up to the Olympics. It was basically a test to see where I was at. I ran 44.20 on a wet track at 10 o’clock at night.” Past his usual bedtime? Check. “I go to bed early.”
Along the way, Wilson found that the older pro runners were glad to mentor him. “Everybody was really nice. They encouraged me and introduced me as a little brother into the space. They helped me along.”
Wilson would be the youngest American male track Olympian ever. The coaches opted to put him on the men’s 4×4 instead of the mixed event. By the time he got to the line in the heats, he says, he wasn’t feeling 100%. Indeed, his 47.27 leadoff lacked his usual spark, and he handed off in 7th place. Blazing legs by teammates Norwood, Deadmon and Chris Bailey brought the team a qualifying spot for the final.
Wilson admits he has mixed feelings about his performance in the Stade de France. “I had a hamstring injury that happened at the Olympics, but I tried not to let that get in my mind. I just tried to give my best race. That was my goal. I didn’t want to go to the Olympics and not race. And there were a lot of other obligations why I had to run. I just got on the track and gave my best, and I knew that everybody else was going to get the baton around the best way. It was not an individual, it was a team.”
Nerves, he says, did not enter into the equation. “I’ve been in moments like that before. Not as loud, not as big, but every track is either 8 or 9 lanes, and it’s a track at the end of the day. People put on their spikes the same way I do. They may be older, but their heart may not be as big as mine.”
Replaced by Rai Benjamin in the final, Wilson could only watch, knowing that the fate of his possible medal depended on the legs of others. In a taut, spellbinding race, the U.S. narrowly missed the World Record, setting an Olympic Record 2:54.43 in winning by a mere 10th from Botswana.
“My best moment was receiving the gold medal,” he says. He is now the youngest male gold medalist ever in track. “Football players, they get the Super Bowl, and I basically got my Super Bowl at 16. I didn’t dream it would be so early.”
Now he is back at school for his junior year, all settled in and playing football. “The team is really good.” A 4-game winning streak at this writing affirms that. He’s barely thinking about track, and hasn’t sat down with Lee to talk about next year’s training.
“I’m going to approach it like any other season,” he says, “approach it like I don’t have a gold medal. I’m not better than anyone. I’m going to go in there with the mindset that they’re ready to knock my head loose. It’s going to be 10 times harder because of the accolade of the gold medal. I’ve just got to get prepared myself because I know these kids are going to be super hungry.”
He adds, “One of the biggest things I learned from the season is to be patient. That’s what I did: trust God and be patient.”
