Teen Phenom Quincy Wilson Poised to Ignite Olympic 4×400 Relay for Team USA

At the Olympic trials earlier this summer, Quincy Wilson broke the under-18 world record twice for the men’s 400 meters.

SAINT-DENIS, France — Quincy Wilson, a 16-year-old athlete, is poised to make history by competing in the men’s 4×400 meter relay for the American team on Friday. If he participates, he will become the youngest male ever to compete for the U.S. track team.

Wilson shared on his Instagram page a picture accompanied by a reminder to “tune in at 5:05 a.m. Friday morning” (on the U.S. East Coast) to watch the men’s relay event.

The relay lineups for Team USA are typically kept under wraps until just before the races. However, Wilson’s coach, Joseph Lee, disclosed to Yahoo Sports that the young athlete has been selected to lead off for the U.S. relay team.

During the Olympic trials earlier this summer, Wilson shattered the under-18 world record twice with impressive times of 44.66 and 44.59 seconds. These performances earned him a spot in the final of the 400 meters, where he finished sixth, subsequently making him a part of the U.S. relay pool for the Olympics.

“I’m 16 years old running grown-man times,” Wilson proudly stated at the trials.

According to Olympic historian Bill Mallon, the youngest U.S. male in Olympic track history was Arthur Newton, who competed in the steeplechase in 1904 at the age of 17. Similarly, Jim Ryun was 17 when he qualified for his first Olympics in 1964, and Erriyon Knighton was 17 when he made it to Tokyo three years ago.