A high schooler from Maryland who doesn’t even have a driver’s license could make U.S. Olympics history on Monday.
Quincy Wilson, 16, is set to compete in the men’s 400-meter final at the Olympic Trials in Eugene, Oregon. If he performs well, he could earn a spot on Team USA going to the Paris Olympics —and become the youngest American male to be part of the Olympic track team.
On Sunday, the young athlete secured a personal best time of 44.59 seconds and surpassed his own under-18 world 400-meter record in the semifinal to advance to the final. It’s the second time he beat the record in two days after he clocked in 44.66 seconds on Friday, beating out other runners in his heat and grabbing the record for his own.
Charlie Neibergall / AP
Following the Sunday race, he told NBC Sports that he “gave everything” he had as he ran closer to the finish line.
“I know that last 100 was going to be hard,” he said. “I’ve been studying these guys. Last year I was in the stands watching them, so. I’m really out here now, and I’m competing with them. I’m so thankful to be in this moment.”
The final will be at 9:59 p.m. Monday ET. It’ll feature other runners such as 2023 U.S. national champion and two-time medalist Bryce Deadmon, as well as Vernon Norwood, who won gold and bronze medals with Deadmon at the Tokyo Games. Deadmon and Norwood finished ahead of Wilson in Sunday’s race.
Wilson told NBC Sports that competing against older athletes and one twice his age like Norwood, 32, is “nothing different.”
“We put on the same shoes the same way,” he said. “We come out here, it’s really just who has a better race, and today we all fought it out.”
The top three finishers of the final on Monday will go to Paris, but some of the other runners could be considered for the relay team. If Wilson makes it, he would be the youngest track and field male Olympian, according to Bill Mallon, an Olympics historian. The youngest ever track and field American athlete is Esther Stroy, who competed at the age of 15 in the 1968 Olympics, Mallon told CBS News.
Wilson, a rising junior from Potomac, Maryland, comes after having plenty of high school success. While he’s yet to have his own driver’s license, he already has his own deal with New Balance, who signed him last year.
