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| Quincy Wilson | |
| Nationality: | American |
| Sport: | Athletics |
| Event: | 400 m |
| Birth Date: | 8 January 2008 |
| Birth Place: | Chesapeake, Virginia, U.S. |
| Education: | Bullis School |
| Height: | 1.75 m[1] |
| Coach: | Joe Lee |
| Pb: | Outdoor
22.15 (Greensboro 2022) Indoor 21.02 (Virginia Beach 2024) |
Quincy Wilson, [2] (born January 8, 2008) is an American track and field athlete who specializes in the 400 meters. In March 2024, competing for Maryland's Bullis School, he set an under-18 world best for the indoor 400-meter dash.[3] In July 2024, he set the under-18 world best for the outdoor version of the same event. In setting these records, Wilson is also the American high school record holder in the indoor and outdoor 400 meters.
At age 16, he qualified for the men's 4x400m relay pool for the 2024 Summer Olympics, becoming the youngest American track & field male Olympian in history.[4] At the Games, Team USA won the gold medal in the 4 x 400 meters. Although Wilson only competed in the heats, he by extension also earned gold, becoming the youngest track and field Olympic gold medalist in history.[5]
Wilson started athletics as an 8-year-old. His parents Monique and Roy Wilson decided to relocate from Chesapeake, Virginia to Gaithersburg, Maryland so he could attend Bullis School in Potomac, Maryland, from which his cousin, Shaniya Hall, graduated in 2020 before running track at University of Oregon. He has an older sister named Kadence. Showing talent from an early age, he broke Obea Moore’s 30-year-old under-14 national record for the 400 meters.[6]
In March 2022, Wilson ran a time of 48.41 seconds outdoors for the 400 meters as a 14 year-old.[7] In August 2022, he won his fifth AAU Junior Olympic Games title, winning the 400 meters in a time of 47.77 seconds, having run 47.59 on the semi-finals. He also finished second in the 200 meters, in a time of 22.42 seconds.[8]
In March 2023, he won the New Balance Nationals Indoor title over 400 meters in Boston, Massachusetts with a time of 46.67 seconds.[9] In April 2023, he ran a 400 meters split of 45.06 seconds at the Penn Relays in Philadelphia.[10]
In June 2023, he finished second at the New Balance Nationals Outdoor over 400 meters, held in Franklin Field, Philadelphia.[11] In September 2023, he became one of the youngest American athletes to sign a name, image and likeness (NIL) contract with a major sports brand company.[12] [13]
At the VA Showcase in January, in the boys’ invitational 500 meters, Wilson ran a U.S. age-group No. 2 all-time mark of 1:01.27, narrowly missing Will Sumner’s national high school record by 0.02 seconds.[14] He also was part of a sprint relay team that set a national high school record at the event.[15]
In February, at the East Coast Invitational in Virginia Beach, he ran a personal best time of 21.02 seconds for the 200 meters.[16] At the Millrose Games, Wilson ran the second fastest all-time high school boys' 600m mark, with a time of 1:17.36.[17] Also in February, Wilson ran a personal best time of 33.11 in the 300m at the Ocean Breeze Elite Invitational.[18]
In March, he retained his title at the New Balance Nationals Indoor 400m title in Boston in a national high school indoors record time of 45.76 seconds.[19] The time would have been enough to finish fourth in the final of the 400 meters at the 2024 World Athletics Indoor Championships, and surpassed the ratified 400m under-18 world best of 46.01 seconds set by Tyrese Cooper in 2017.[20] [21] Wilson also anchored his school's 4x400 relay team who then broke their own national record again, this time with a mark of 3:11.87.[22]
On March 29, Wilson ran 45.19 seconds for the 400m at the Florida Relays.[23]
On April 5, Wilson ran 1:50.44 in the 800m, at the Beach Run Invitational in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.[24]
On April 27, Wilson split a 44.37 400m as Bullis School's anchor leg in the preliminary High School Boys' 4x400m at the Penn Relays. This stands as the fastest high school 400 meter split ever recorded at the Penn Relays.[25] Later that day, in the High School Boys' 4x400 Championship of America, Wilson would split another sub-45 second 400m anchor leg, with a time of 44.69.[26]
In both the preliminaries and the finals, one of Wilson's teammates was tripped and had to recover the baton, giving Bullis a major setback. In the preliminaries, with his impressive 44.37 split, Wilson was able to close the gap, bringing his team home in a time of 3:14.84, thereby winning their heat and being the fourth fastest qualifier. However, in the finals, even with Wilson's 44.69 split, the gap to the leaders was too large, and could not be made up. In the finals, Bullis finished in third, in a time of 3:13.10. In second was Jamaica's Excelsior (3:12.94) and taking the win was Jamaica's Kingston College (3:11.86).
On June 15, Wilson ran 45.13 in the Championship Boys' 400m, at the New Balance Nationals Outdoor, placing first and setting a meet record.[27]
On June 21, at the U.S. Olympic Trials, Wilson set the outdoor under-18 boys world best in the preliminaries of the 400m, in a time of 44.66, which was the second fastest 400m time of the day, only behind Quincy Hall's 44.60.[28] He would then better this record 2 days later on June 23, with a time of 44.59 in the semifinals, which qualified him for the finals.[28] Wilson placed sixth overall in the 400m final, with a time of 44.94.[29]
Although Wilson did not make the individual 400 meter team, he was added to the men's 4x400m relay pool, making him the youngest American track & field male Olympian in history.[30]
On July 19, in the final weeks before the 2024 Paris Olympics, Wilson improved his 400 meter personal best and under-18 world best to 44.20 at the Holloway Pro Classic in Gainesville. In a very close finish, Wilson outleaned Bryce Deadmon, with Deadmon just behind Wilson at 44.23.[31]
On August 9, in the heats of the 4 x 400 m relay at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Wilson was the leadoff leg, with Vernon Norwood second, Bryce Deadmon third, and Christopher Bailey fourth. He split a time of 47.27, which put him in seventh place when he handed off to Vernon Norwood while Botswana's Letsile Tebogo took the lead in a split of around 44.4. Although Wilson's split was well off his personal best and poor when compared to his teammates (Norwood at around 43.6, Deadmon at around 44.2, and Bailey at around 44.05), Team USA nonetheless qualified for the final in a time of 2:59.15 behind Great Britain (2:58.88) and Botswana (2:57.76).[32] [33] In the final on August 10, the United States, consisting of Bailey (44.45), Norwood (43.26), Deadmon (43.54), and Rai Benjamin (43.18), won gold in a new Olympic record of 2:54.43, which was 0.14 seconds off of the 4 x 400 m world record of 2:54.29, set in 1993 by an American team consisting of Andrew Valmon (44.43), Quincy Watts (43.59), Butch Reynolds (43.36), and Michael Johnson (42.91). By extension, for his participation in the heats, Wilson earned a gold medal, becoming the youngest track and field Olympic gold medalist in history.[34] [5]
Information from World Athletics profile unless otherwise noted.
| Distance | Time (s) | Wind | Location | Date | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 200 meters | 22.15 | -2.0 m/s | Greensboro, US | August 3, 2022 | ||
| 200 metres (i) | 22.49 | Virginia Beach, US | March 20, 2022 | |||
| 300 metres (i) | 33.11 | New York, US | February 24, 2024 | |||
| 400 meters | 44.20 | Gainesville, US | July 19, 2024 | |||
| 400 metres (i) | 45.76 | Boston, US | March 11, 2024 | |||
| 500 metres (i) | 1:01.27 | Virginia Beach, US | January 12, 2024 | |||
| 600 metres (i) | 1:17.36 | New York, US | February 11, 2024 |
| 2024 | Olympic Games | Paris, France | bgcolor=gold | 1st | 4 × 400 m relay | Series participation |
| Year | Competition | Venue | Position | Event | Time | Wind (m/s) | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 4th | 400 m | 46.12 | - | ||||
| 2024 | U.S. Olympic Trials | Eugene, Oregon | 6th | 400 m | 44.94 | - |