Recall the name Quincy Wilson. The 16-year-old sprinter is the youngest male track athlete in the United States, preparing for the 2024 Olympics in Paris.
Wilson, born in January 2008, is traveling with Team USA to France and may participate in the 4x400m relay..
The teenager was added to the team’s relay pool, with Quincy Hall, Michael Norman and Chris Bailey all set to compete in the 400m men’s individual event at the Stade de France.
That gives Wilson a shot at featuring in the relay, should Team USA want to keep those three sprinters fresh.
Hall won the U.S. Olympic Trials with a personal best time of 44.17 seconds, with 2022 world champion Norman second and Bailey third.
Wilson, meanwhile, finished a respectable sixth in that race, but it was the times he was posting that had athletes around the world turning their heads.
Wilson became a star attraction in those trials because he broke the 400m world record for Under-18 sprinters twice in the space of three days, a record that had stood for 42 years.
From 44.66 in round one to 44.59 in the semi-finals, Wilson saw all his hard work pay off.
“I’ve been working for this moment,” Wilson said. “Forty-two years… that record stood for 42 years! It means a lot to me to be able to break it. I’ve been staying longer after practices, coming in before practices… I’m just excited for myself.”
And it got even better just a few weeks later, as Wilson broke the record again with 44.20 in Gainesville, Florida.
That time would have been enough to make the individual 400m in Paris, and makes him the third fastest American this year.
It leaves the team with a big relay decision to make, with Norman’s 2024 best just 0.01 slower and Bryce Deadmon also in the pool after posting 44.23 this year.
Snoop Dogg is among Quincy Wilson’s celebrity fans
A whirlwind Trials saw a nation take note of 16-year-old Wilson, and with rapper Snoop Dogg part of NBC’s commentary for the event, he just had to meet the sprint sensation.
“He said he wanted to meet me, so we met outside right before I ran,” Wilson said.
And having lived in Maryland, Wilson is a huge Baltimore Ravens fan, meaning a message one morning from NFL legend Ray Lewis – who won two Super Bowls with the Ravens – topped the list of his celebrity interactions.
Wilson said: “He sent me a message, ‘Keep doing your thing, I’m always rooting for you.’
“I woke up on a positive note. I literally have a bobble head of him in my trophy stand, you have no words for it. It’s like your hard work is paying off and unfolding in front of your eyes.
“Ray Lewis has always been my dream person. I would play around in the house doing his entrance. It was just amazing when you get those texts. I’ve been to four or five games this season, so I’m a big Ravens fan.”
Quincy Wilson has won national championships since he was eight
Wilson has dominated his age category through the years on the American stage, but was most proud of winning the championship aged 15 in 2023, when every competitor was at least two grades above him.
After winning, with a smile and a crown on his head, he said: “I started off when I was seven. I wasn’t able to go to the Junior Olympics, I lost by 0.1 seconds. I told myself from there on I had something. That moment was the time of my life. From there in the 400m, eight years old, nine, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, I’ve won a national championship in the 400m.
“It means everything to me to keep coming back each year, racing new competitors, but this year it was special because I was racing 17-year-olds, 18-year-olds. I looked at the list, it was all 12th graders and one 11th graders, and one 9th grader, so seeing the nine on that list means a lot.”
Quincy Wilson, a champion, is still eating the same pre-race meal
Wilson has got used to interviews after winning, and a video when he was aged nine from 2017 recently resurfaced.
Back then, he had just won another national title and told the camera his morning breakfast was a tasty combination of waffles, eggs and ham.
And that has barely changed, with Wilson still fitting waffles, eggs and bacon into his diet.
“I can say it’s a tradition,” he said after this year’s trials. “That’s just the meal to go to, it’s not really the healthiest but if it [helps] on the track I’m gonna keep doing it.”
A big fan of Esther Stroy Harper
Esther Stroy Harper is now 70, but knows what Wilson’s rapid rise feels like.
She remains the youngest track athlete to ever compete for Team USA at the Olympics, having been just 15 when racing the 400m at Mexico City 1968.
Story Harper now lives just 40 miles from Wilson’s Bullis School, and has been cheering him on from the stands.
“I’ve gone to the Penn Relays for the past three years and I’ve watched this young man run, and oh, my goodness,” Stroy Harper told NBC.
“I was jumping up for joy and pushing him through that finish line at the Olympic trials. I hope he continues doing as well as he’s doing because he’s awesome. He is definitely truth.”
And her advice for a fellow teen prodigy?
“Stick to your plan, listen to your coach and run the race that you know you can run, that you’ve been running all year that’s gotten you to the Olympic trials and now you’re in the Olympics,” she said. “Continue to run that same race. Don’t deviate from that.”
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