Sixteen year old Quincy Wilson broke the 400M record for his age group on Saturday, June 15th at the Olympic Trials in Eugene, Oregon. In the semifinals the next day, he broke the record yet again.
This sixteen year old was a track-and-field prodigy from Bullis High in Potomac, Maryland is no ordinary teenager. On that day, Quincy broke the 18-and-Under 400M record of 44.66 seconds that was set in 1982 by Darrel Robinson. In the second semi-finals on Sunday, Quincy broke yet another record, his own this time, and did the 400M in 44.59 seconds, which is the fastest time ever done by an American under the age of 18 for that event. “I’ve never been this happy a day in my life when it came to track,” Wilson said. “I’ve been working for this moment. That record that I broke two days ago? That’s 42 years of nobody being able to break that record. And I broke it twice in two days.”
Even though Quincy Wilson is only 5-foot-9 and just half the age of some of his competitors, some of whom have already been in past Olympic Games and/or hold world titles, Wilson still somehow managed to finish third in his heat on Sunday. How did he execute such an amazing feat? “The special sauce of Wilson, beyond just his obvious talent, is the kid’s heart,” says lead columnist of The Athletic Marcus Thompson II.
If Quincy Wilson continues to do so well, getting a driver’s license will have to wait, as the sophomore student will be on the plane to Paris.
This sixteen year old was a track-and-field prodigy from Bullis High in Potomac, Maryland is no ordinary teenager. On that day, Quincy broke the 18-and-Under 400M record of 44.66 seconds that was set in 1982 by Darrel Robinson. In the second semi-finals on Sunday, Quincy broke yet another record, his own this time, and did the 400M in 44.59 seconds, which is the fastest time ever done by an American under the age of 18 for that event. “I’ve never been this happy a day in my life when it came to track,” Wilson said. “I’ve been working for this moment. That record that I broke two days ago? That’s 42 years of nobody being able to break that record. And I broke it twice in two days.”
Even though Quincy Wilson is only 5-foot-9 and just half the age of some of his competitors, some of whom have already been in past Olympic Games and/or hold world titles, Wilson still somehow managed to finish third in his heat on Sunday. How did he execute such an amazing feat? “The special sauce of Wilson, beyond just his obvious talent, is the kid’s heart,” says lead columnist of The Athletic Marcus Thompson II.
If Quincy Wilson continues to do so well, getting a driver’s license will have to wait, as the sophomore student will be on the plane to Paris.