PARIS — American men have competed in track and field at the Olympic Games for 128 years. Never before, however, has there been someone as young as Quincy Wilson.
The 16-year-old ran the opening leg of Round 1 of the U.S. 4x400-meter relay Friday inside Stade de France. With that run, Wilson became the youngest male U.S. track Olympian, eclipsing middle-distance runner Jim Ryun, who was 17 at the 1964 Olympics.
Wilson later became the youngest male Olympic track and field gold medalist ever after the U.S. 4x400-meter relay team — made up of Chris Bailey, Vernon Norwood, Bryce Deadmon, and Rai Benjamin — won gold over Botswana on Saturday. While Wilson did not compete in the final, his efforts in Round 1 earned him the hardware.
In Friday's race, Wilson faded in the last 150 meters to hand over in seventh place, three seconds behind the leaders. But Team USA did not panic, with strong legs from the other American runners seeing the U.S. recovering to finish third and into Saturday's final.
Without going into detail, Wilson said afterward that he was not completely healthy.
“I knew I had a great three legs behind me,” Wilson said. “I knew it wasn’t just myself, because by myself we would be in last place.”
Wilson handed off to teammate Norwood, whose 43.54 leg got the U.S. back in contention. Norwood described himself as “very proud” watching Wilson.
“I was kind of in the moment because I’m watching a 16-year-old running the Olympics — Olympics history,” Norwood said.
Even at an Olympics where the youngest competitor is an 11-year-old Chinese skateboarder, and a 14-year-old Australian skateboarder has earned a gold medal, Wilson’s presence was remarkable given the strength and endurance required by his chosen event.
The 5-foot-9 Wilson, however, had proven himself in recent months by not only dominating in the 400 against his high school peers while at the Bullis School in Potomac, Maryland, but producing one of the most stunning performances at the U.S. Track and Field Trials in Eugene, Oregon, in June, running a sub-45-second 400 in three consecutive rounds and finishing sixth in the final.
At a meet in Florida on July 18, Wilson backed up Team USA’s decision by lowering the Under-18 world record to 44.20 and outkicking a field of professionals. The time ranks as the world’s 11th-fastest time of the season, fourth-fastest by an American, and would have been good enough for sixth in Wednesday’s Olympic 400-meter final.
The showing led USA Track & Field to include him in the pool of runners eligible to run on a U.S. relay in Paris. Making the relay pool only certifies an athlete is an option for U.S. coaches to consider, however. When Wilson wasn’t chosen to run on the mixed 4x400-meter team that eventually won silver, the teenager’s opportunities to don the U.S. jersey dwindled.
Wilson’s sister, Kadence, is a sprinter and long jumper for James Madison University while a cousin, Shaniya Hall, runs for the University of Oregon, and there were early signs Wilson would join them as a sprinting star. After an 8-year-old Wilson finished fourth in the 400 at the AAU Junior Olympic Games, he returned the next year and won the first of his five national championships.
But no stage, of course, was as big as Friday on Stade de France’s purple track.
The U.S. is already deep at the 400, with three men making Wednesday’s final, including gold medalist Quincy Hall, but Wilson’s emergence on the global stage has sparked significant expectations entering the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics. Before he can start an Olympic encore, however, he must begin his junior year of high school.